Freebirth: On the possibility of being "outside" the management of the reproductive function

Cases of planned unassisted childbirths – also termed ‘freebirths’ – have been increasing during the last couple of decades, in Europe and the US as well as in many middle-income countries. A recent peak has been noted, for instance, in the United Kingdom in connection to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the phenomenon of expectants mothers declining medical assistance has existed ever since the beginning of modern medical birth facilities, that is, at least since the 1950s. Put shortly, ever since the birth of the birth clinic, some birthers have chosen to exit the clinic. In this paper I explore freebirthing as an activity that, precisely as the term itself suggests, seeks to attain some form of freedom. Freebirthers themselves often refer to their experiences as ‘being outside the system’ of ‘free from the medical apparatus.’ As a starting point, I locate this activity on a biopolitical site where the central functions of reproduction are controlled. That is, when refusing birth assistance and in many cases maternity services altogether, one also refuses or contests a certain apparatus of power. However, it is somewhat ambiguous what the precise implications of this refusal are – where does this refusal take one and what effects does it have, for instance on the medico-political apparatus itself? The broader ambitions of this paper lie, on the one hand, in an attempt to understand how biopolitical apparatuses of power are contested and engaged with. On the other hand, the paper is part of a broader project of theorizing freedom as an activity that is always practiced within or in relation to various apparatuses of power, this way potentially transforming them.