Unassisted Birth Information
A small number of people in Australia choose to have an unassisted birth at home (otherwise known as freebirth, solo birth, pure birth, or do-it-yourself homebirth). This is a birth which is planned to be at home but which, for a range of reasons, the parent(s) intentionally arrange to be unattended by a maternity care provider. At present the only data available about the safety of birth unattended by a care provider in Australia is for unplanned homebirth, which is associated with higher death and injury rates for mother and baby.
The latest data for Pregnancy Outcomes in South Australia (Dept of Health 2009) shows that there were 13 unplanned homebirths in 2007 - of these 8 had received antenatal care from the Women's and Children's MGP; another 5 had no recorded antenatal care and resulted in two perinatal deaths.
Since no data is published in Australia for births which are planned to be at home but which are intentionally unassisted, choosing an intentionally unassisted planned homebirth choice is at present experimental in terms of safety. However, the World Health Organisation states that safe birth (lower death and injury rates) occurs when skilled midwifery care is available, and that midwives play a central role in making pregnancy and birth safe (WHO 2005). On the other hand, advocates of unassisted birth point to other issues which they feel should be weighed alongside medical safety, such as the woman's feelings of empowerment, her religious and cultural views etc. Further information and links are available on Wikipedia.