What they do not show are the moments of panic when blood floods the floor, when a heartbeat fades or when a baby is born without breath and time itself seems to stop.
The tragedy is not only that these figures mislead others, but that they do so without consequence. They are not the ones risking their lives or their babies’ futures. When disaster strikes, they vanish behind vague expressions of sympathy while the midwives, paramedics and doctors they have publicly derided fight to salvage what remains of a preventable tragedy. There are no investigations, no inquiries and no repercussions. Their followers move onto the next post and the cycle continues, powered by algorithms that reward spectacle over truth.
The aftermath is not always measured in death. Sometimes the baby survives but with permanent injury, brain damaged by a few unmonitored minutes of oxygen deprivation. The cost of that single decision will last a lifetime. It is borne by the family and by society itself – the care of a child with severe neurological impairment can cost tens of millions of taxpayer dollars across decades. That burden falls on the community, not on the influencer who encouraged the risk. Meanwhile, the family will have those decades to consider what might have been.
If a clinician were to behave with such disregard for safety, the result would be swift, public condemnation. If were I to tell a patient to ignore warning signs or to refuse care, I would face disciplinary action, professional ruin and possibly criminal charges. Yet those who command vast online audiences are free to urge precisely that behaviour without consequence.
Loading
Every preventable maternal or neonatal death leaves deep scars. The grief does not end with the family. It spreads through emergency departments, operating theatres and neonatal units. The paramedics who arrive first, the nurses who prepare resuscitation trolleys, the obstetricians who operate on fading pulses, the neonatologists who try to breathe life into a lifeless child – all carry fragments of that night within them.
If such a catastrophe occurred within a hospital, there would be investigations, reports and public scrutiny. When it happens outside the system, there is almost complete silence. The influencers who once encouraged “sovereign birth” post carefully worded condolences without ever admitting to their part in the outcome. The event is framed as a tragedy rather than a consequence, and the myth endures. Somewhere, another woman is persuaded that she, too, can trust the universe to deliver her child safely.
Freedom in childbirth is a precious ideal, but freedom without truth is perilous. Those who profit from persuading others to reject safe care must be held accountable, if not in law then at least in conscience. The right to advise carries with it a duty to accept the cost when that advice causes harm. Until society recognises that, misinformation will continue to masquerade as wisdom, and more women will pay with their lives for the illusions of others.
Loading
To bring a child into the world is not an act of rebellion against medicine. It is an act of humanity that deserves every safeguard that science can offer. The tragedy is not that birth sometimes goes wrong, but that in a century defined by knowledge and progress, mothers and babies still die or live impaired because someone told them they would be fine.
Associate Professor Vinay Rane is an obstetrician, gynaecologist and lawyer. He is a founding director of Melbourne Mothers and Thrive Fertility, and holds leadership roles on the Councils of the Australian Medical Association (Vic), the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
