A year-long investigation has uncovered disturbing links between the Free Birth Society and multiple baby deaths around the world, as influencers made millions promoting dangerous unassisted births without medical supervision.
The Tragic Story of Esau Lopez
When Esau Lopez was asphyxiated during the first seventeen minutes of his life in a Pennsylvania apartment, the atmosphere remained strangely serene. Acoustic music played softly as friends assured his mother Gabrielle Lopez that everything was normal. Despite her growing concerns during labour, nobody recognised that Esau was experiencing shoulder dystocia - a complication where the baby's head is born but the body doesn't follow.
In a medically supervised birth, this situation would trigger immediate emergency procedures. But as Lopez was freebirthing - giving birth without any medical professionals present - nobody understood that with each passing minute, Esau was sustaining irreversible brain damage. Seventeen minutes later, when he was finally born, Esau was limp and lifeless, his body white and legs purple from acute oxygen deprivation.
Now three years old, Esau suffers from severe disabilities and requires feeding through a tube. His mother reflects on how she became involved with the Free Birth Society, comparing it to joining a cult unwittingly.
The Free Birth Society Empire
The Free Birth Society (FBS) was founded by former doula Emilee Saldaya and has grown into a multi-million dollar enterprise. Unlike home births with midwife support, freebirth involves delivering babies without any medical assistance whatsoever.
FBS promotes an extreme version of freebirthing that discourages ultrasounds, downplays serious medical conditions, and advocates for wild pregnancy - pregnancy without any prenatal care. The organisation reaches women through its popular podcast with over 5 million downloads, Instagram account with 132,000 followers, YouTube channel with nearly 25 million views, and premium online courses.
Financial analysis suggests FBS has generated revenues exceeding $13 million since 2018. Their flagship product, The Complete Guide to Freebirth video course, costs $399 and has alone made over $5 million.
Radical Responsibility and Dangerous Ideology
At the core of FBS's teachings is the concept of radical responsibility, where mothers assume complete responsibility for all birth outcomes, including their own death or that of their child. The organisation teaches that most birth complications are simply variations of normal and that medical concerns are greatly exaggerated.
Former members describe how they were taught to view even contemplating a hospital backup plan as a moral failure. Yolande Norris-Clark, Saldaya's business partner, explicitly told followers: You have to choose one world or the other. If you're setting up a medical team in the room next door, you're not getting the best of both worlds. You're choosing the medical world.
This ideology has proven deadly. The investigation identified 18 confirmed cases of late-term stillbirths, neonatal deaths, or serious harm to mothers where FBS influence played a significant role in decision-making. These include cases where mothers bled nearly to death, went blind from untreated pre-eclampsia, or laboured for days without seeking help.
A Growing Movement Amid System Failures
Experts note that freebirthing appears to be increasing worldwide as women lose trust in professional maternity services. This trend is particularly acute in the United States, which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among wealthy nations.
Professor Soo Downe, a British midwife at the University of Lancashire, explains that multiple factors drive this movement: lack of access to midwife-led care, overly interventionist approaches driven by litigation fears, and in the US, the absence of universal healthcare forcing some women to pay for home birth midwives.
Many women turn to freebirthing after experiencing traumatic hospital births where they felt violated or procedures were performed without consent. Hermine Hayes-Klein, an Oregon attorney specialising in maternity law, says she regularly speaks with mothers who are suicidal following such experiences.
The Business of Unregulated Midwifery
As their empire expanded, Saldaya and Norris-Clark created the Radical Birth Keeper school, training over 850 authentic midwives despite neither woman having formal medical qualifications. They later launched the MatriBirth Midwifery Institute, charging $12,000 for a year-long online midwifery course.
Students paid thousands for training that included advice on avoiding legal consequences. Saldaya instructed them to give fake names at hospitals, play dumb if police investigated baby deaths, and to accept cash gifts rather than signed contracts.
Former students now describe the programmes as scams that left them unprepared for actual birth emergencies. One student, Keelee Sullivan, borrowed $6,000 from family for what she believed was midwifery school, only to realise after her first attended birth that she was practicing delusional optimism without proper education.
Concerning Resuscitation Policies
Most alarming is FBS's approach to newborn resuscitation. Both Saldaya and Norris-Clark have described resuscitation as unnecessary meddling that deprives babies of the chance to choose to begin their lives.
In recorded sessions, Saldaya stated she would never resuscitate a baby, calling the idea cuckoo bananas. She described attending a birth where the baby didn't breathe for several minutes, admitting she found it challenging but did nothing because there's nothing for me to do.
Medical experts who reviewed footage of Saldaya's own freebirth expressed horror at her failure to resuscitate her visibly distressed newborn. Professor Michelle Telfer, an associate professor of midwifery at Yale, compared it to watching a parent sit by the pool while their child quietly drowns.
Ongoing Impact and Recent Developments
The investigation reveals that within FBS's private Lighthouse community alone, approximately eight women experienced stillbirths or neonatal deaths in the last year. When tragedies occur, negative comments are deleted, and mothers who lose children are sometimes blocked from FBS social media accounts.
Recently, both Saldaya and Norris-Clark have faced growing backlash. A Reddit community formed to help deprogram from the mind control of FBS, and multiple students have left their programmes. In a stunning development, Saldaya recently announced her own baby was stillborn at 41 weeks gestation.
Despite the tragedies, both women continue to defend their approach. Saldaya rejected characterisations of herself as a manipulative cult leader, while Norris-Clark called critics pathetic losers. The Free Birth Society continues to operate, having rebranded its midwifery school as a mentor institute amid increasing scrutiny.
