Unassisted Birth

Unassisted childbirth (UC) refers to the process of intentionally giving birth without the assistance of a medical or professional birth attendant. It is also known as freebirth, DIY (do-it-yourself) birth, unhindered birth, and unassisted home birth.

As defined by Wikipedia.

I am feeling so torn about this term unassisted birth. In a general sense ok yes, so there is no trained individual assisting at the birth. But I feel in places where this term is invited is due to the lack of choices women are given, where ever they reside. In the state of North Dakota (ND) due to the out of date laws they have women who are told what to do instead of given freedom of choice with multiple options. Since living in ND I have come across multiple women that are either planning a home unassisted birth or had one. It seems to be a common thread here, that they felt they were not listened to by medical professionals and/or was unable to get trained help outside of hospital. I feel like women feel a bit neglected and instead of feeling not safe and unappreciated in the hospital they create a birth place of safety and comfort at home and know that if they need a place for emergencies they have their local ER. Also with how tricky the laws are in North Dakota Midwives that would usually supply this service out of their homes are few and far between. Leaving some women in this position to freebirth because they are not able to get the trained professional to their home.

Not sure when the bow will break but I can see change on the horizon when women and families can plan for a birth with more comfortable choices or avenues where lives do not have to be in "harms way." I'm glad other states are paving the way in birth choices and we have other countries that give us guidance of how birth can be. But until we can do more for women the term should not be "Unassisted Birth" it should be "No-Choice Birth."