A woman should be free to choose where and with whom she gives birth. As it stands in Hungary, although Hungarian law gives her this freedom, it also turns around and prohibits anybody from offering professional assistance. The de facto effect is a loss of women’s choice. However, this threat of prosecution and imprisonment for helpers has been theoretical – until now. On October 5^th, it turned into ugly reality. Ágnes Geréb, Hungary’s most prominent home birth midwife, was arrested on that day and has been held by the authorities since then. The manner of her confinement raises the second set of human rights issues. >>>

It is a fundamental right of a woman to choose where and with whom to give birth. Hungarian law states that Hungarian women have this choice. However, unless a woman wants to give unassisted birth at home, she is out of luck because the law also states that it is prohibited for anybody to assist at a planned home birth. Health care professionals such as doctors or nurses face losing their license, non-medical personnel such as lay midwives, face prosecution for practicing medicine without a license.

 

Dr. Ágnes Geréb worked for 17 years as an obstetrician at a Hungarian hospital. Even early in her career, she was a pioneer and a rebel: she was one of the first doctors in Hungary to take the radical step to allow fathers in the delivery room. This was in the 1970s when men’s access to birthing rooms was strictly forbidden and women were separated from their loved ones when giving birth to their babies.

 

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