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Good morning. Last month, we brought you the story behind the Guardian\u2019s year-long investigation into the US-based Free Birth Society, a multi-million dollar business whose philosophy <\/strong>has been linked to traumatic births and even baby deaths around the world.<\/p>\n The society promotes a version of free birth (or unassisted birth) with no medical support that is seen as extreme, even among advocates of the practice. Unlike home births, which have a midwife in attendance, free birth involves delivering without medical help. The group influences women via podcasts, social media and online schools and, the Guardian found, advises mothers to steer clear of doctors and midwives, is anti-ultrasound, which it falsely claims harms babies, and downplays serious medical conditions.<\/p>\n For today\u2019s newsletter, we revisit the story to focus on one young woman\u2019s experience with the society, told as part of a new six-episode podcast series, The Birth Keepers, which came out on Thursday, and is presented by Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne.<\/p>\n Lorren Holliday, a former actor, moved from Los Angeles with her husband, Chris, to a cactus-strewn desert in the middle of Joshua Tree national park, to be with nature and to live \u201cwild and free\u201d. The young couple wanted kids, and she became pregnant quickly. Then she discovered and joined the Facebook group of Emilee Saldaya, the founder of FBS, and became captivated by the society\u2019s podcasts. It was a discovery that led to tragedy.<\/p>\n After the headlines, more on what the Guardian podcast series reveals, and what happened to Lorren. A warning: what follows is distressing and graphic in its description of what Lorren experienced.<\/p>\n UK news <\/strong><\/em>| The US is engaging in \u201cextreme rightwing tropes\u201d reminiscent of the 1930s, British MPs warned ministers on Thursday, after the release of Donald Trump\u2019s national security strategy.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Health <\/strong><\/em>| The NHS is facing its \u201cworst-case scenario\u201d for flu cases this month across England after the number of people in hospital with the illness increased by 55% in a week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Iran <\/strong><\/em>| A child bride who was due to be executed this month in Iran over the death of her husband has had her life spared by his parents, who were paid the equivalent of \u00a370,000 in exchange for their forgiveness.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n UK politics <\/strong><\/em>| Downing Street has vowed to force the Lords to vote on the employment rights bill again next week, after Conservative and cross-bench peers blocked it on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Topic <\/strong><\/em>| The US wants Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donbas region, and Washington would then create a \u201cfree economic zone\u201d in the parts where Kyiv has held off the Russian invasion \u2013 but \u201cthey don\u2019t know\u201d under whose control it would be, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n <\/span>Lorren\u2019s daughter, Journey Moon, was one of the first babies to die from the Free Birth Society community. <\/span> Photograph: Adriana Zehbrauskas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cMy goal for my life was to be basically wild and free roam the land, barefooted, you know, in the sand,\u201d Lorren tells Sirin and Lucy in the podcast.<\/p>\n After she became pregnant, Lorren\u2019s initial plan was a hospital birth, but her first meeting with a doctor put her off. A home birth midwife she liked cost $5,000, but the couple had just begun a new business and money was tight. She began scrolling online for information on natural birth and then her algorithm served up the Free Birth Society.<\/p>\n \u201cI just got hooked,\u201d she tells Sirin and Lucy. She began listening to FBS podcasts on \u201camazing, successful\u201d birth stories, sometimes as many as seven a day. She joined the Facebook group and became friendly with Emilee Saldaya, whom she says she \u201ctrusted, very much\u201d. \u201cI felt like she proved herself since she had led all these other women to these great victories in their births,\u201d she said. Chris was also on board: \u201cI loved the concept,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Many things in Lorren\u2019s story, the Guardian found, were similar to other stories of women they talked to, linked to FBS: women discovering their content through social media algorithms, the addictive nature of the podcast with its positive free birthing stories, a bad experience with the mainstream medical industry. All of the women, the Guardian found, felt strongly they were doing this for their babies.<\/p>\n \u201cThey tell you not to do the OBGYN stuff,\u201d said Lorren. \u201cI quit doing that. No more doctors. No blood work or visits or ultrasounds, nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n When her due date came, in October 2018, Lorren was confident her birth would play out like the stories she had heard. But she was blindsided by how excruciatingly painful it was. And she began to feel something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n \u2018There\u2019s no way out\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n By day two, Lorren felt like her labour wasn\u2019t progressing and decided to message Saldaya directly on Facebook. She told her that the pain was \u201cunbearable\u201d and that she had been throwing up.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pain is not unbearable,\u201d Saldaya replied. \u201cThis is birth, You make a choice to move though one sensation at time or you make a choice to go to the hospital. There\u2019s no way out.\u201d She told Lorren that \u201cyou\u2019ll have to die a thousand deaths and let go of everything you think you can\u2019t do\u201d.<\/p>\n Days after her contractions began, Lorren started seeing what she thought might be meconium, which can be a sign that a baby is in distress and can sometimes be dangerous if it gets into a baby\u2019s lungs.<\/p>\n She messaged Saldaya again, with details of fluids and a picture of stains. An exchange of texts followed, with Saldaya saying the fluid looks like normal, adding: \u201cAll looks well and healthy. Ride those waves sister your baby is coming, all is well.\u201d<\/p>\n While Lorren was in her trailer messaging Saldaya, she also turned to the FBS Facebook group to ask if this seemed normal. \u201cI was just getting nothing but, \u2018you\u2019re doing good, you\u2019re just at the beginning\u2019,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n \u2018Please go to the hospital\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Renee LaPonte, a midwife from Massachusetts, was also in the group and had grown concerned with Lorren\u2019s prolonged labour.<\/p>\n LaPonte told the Guardian: \u201cI remember saying, that\u2019s not OK, and people saying, that\u2019s a variation of normal. That\u2019s not a variation of normal. She needs help. And I remember typing, \u2018Please go to the hospital\u2019. But as quickly as I would type it, it would get taken down. There were several of us doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n The posts were being deleted by FBS group admins, because they were against the groups rules. There was no \u201cassistance\u201d talk, meaning you could never recommend someone go to the doctors, call a midwife or home birth group, LaPonte said. Lorren says she can\u2019t remember ever seeing messages urging her to go to hospital.<\/p>\n \u2018A scratch on the soul that just would never leave\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Six days into her labour, Lorren sent Saldaya a picture of a luminous green stain. \u201cThat\u2019s [meconium]\u201d, she messaged back. The next morning, Saldaya asked if Lorren knew any midwives who could come over, adding: \u201cHow far are you from hospital, do you feel concerned?\u201d<\/p>\n When Lorren replied that she was 30 minutes from hospital and there were no midwives around, Saldaya warned her what to expect if she goes to hospital. \u201cSome people fudge the date when their waters open,\u201d she said, adding that if they have been open for 24 hours, they will perform a c-section.<\/p>\n Lorren, who could still feel the baby, told Saldaya she was going in. \u201cI was like, all right, we\u2019re going to have the baby today. Let\u2019s go to the hospital. We\u2019re done.\u201d<\/p>\n But, after being admitted, Lorren and Chris were told there was no heartbeat. \u201cI remember looking over at my husband. And he just went: \u2018It\u2019s OK, it\u2019ll be OK\u2019, and we had to stay strong until she was born.\u201d<\/p>\n What followed was \u201can excruciatingly painful\u201d procedure, involving seven doctors, to deliver the baby. Her daughter\u2019s arm and shoulder were lodged on the right side of Lorren\u2019s pelvis, so much so that they had to use a vacuum and forceps. She found out later that the doctors told Chris there was a chance she could die, too.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many thoughts are going through my head,\u201d Chris recalls in the Guardian podcast. \u201cOf just, am I about to lose everything right now? And it\u2019s one of those moments in life that just kind of create that little scratch on the soul that just would never leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Lorren and Chris\u2019s baby was stillborn, weighing 8 pounds 13 ounces. They had already chosen a name, and called her Journey Moon.<\/p>\n \u2018A preventable death\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n After being shown the messages between Lorren and Saldaya, one professor of midwifery told the Guardian there were \u201chuge warning signs that the baby was in distress\u201d. Another expert said: \u201cThis was not a tragedy, but a preventable death.\u201d And an experienced home birth midwife told us that \u201cthis outcome was overwhelmingly avoidable\u201d.<\/p>\n Emilee Saldaya and her business partner Yolanda Norris-Clark were both approached for comment. Neither provided a substantive response. In reply to one email, Saldaya said: \u201cSome of these allegations are false or defamatory\u201d.<\/p>\n In May, FBS issued a disclaimer, saying its content was not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition related to pregnancy or birth. After the Guardian published its investigation last month, Saldaya published a statement on Instagram, branding the report propaganda and suggesting it contained lies. She has previously criticised other media coverage for unfairly depicting her a \u201ccult leader\u201d and says she wants women to have the option to choose free birth.<\/p>\n Saldaya has always denied involvement in Journey Moon\u2019s death. \u201cThe story wound up that I was her virtual midwife,\u201d she has told students, \u201cwhich is not true. We had never worked together. I didn\u2019t know this woman at all.\u201d<\/p>\n The Guardian Investigates: The Birth Keepers\u200b is our six-part podcast series on \u200bh\u200bow two influencers made millions radicalising pregnant women around the world \u2013 and the tragedies that followed\u200b. The entire series can be listened to now.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>Playing with his bow and arrow \u2026 Olly Alexander.<\/span> Photograph: Polydor Records\/PA<\/p>\n This piece on gay male and non-binary popstars<\/strong> hitting a glass ceiling is an incredibly interesting and thoroughly depressing read. Poppy Noor, newsletters team<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n I\u2019ve not played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/strong> with its \u201cBelle \u00c9poque\u201d setting, but this behind the scenes interview with the French team behind the game has me intrigued to give it a whirl. Martin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n If you\u2019re in need of a hope injection I very much recommend Lucy Knight\u2019s piece on the Sunderland charity<\/strong> that\u2019s been improving lives (and fighting far-right hate) one house, park and shop at a time. Poppy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n For i-D magazine, Pedro Pinho has this look at the style and personalities of people attending the BATEKOO Festival in S\u00e3o Paulo, a showcase of Brazil\u2019s Black queer counterculture<\/strong>. Martin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Labour is talking big on its commitments to reduce the welfare bill<\/strong> \u2013 while quietly gutting the programmes needed to keep deindustrialised regions out of poverty. Larry Elliott on this topic is a must read. Poppy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/span>Nat Metcalf in action for England in Australia in 2022.<\/span> Photograph: Mark Kolbe\/Getty Images for Netball Australia<\/p>\n Netball <\/strong><\/em>| Receiving her first centre pass at London\u2019s Copper Box Arena will be an unforgettable moment for England captain Nat Metcalf on her return to action.<\/p>\n Darts <\/strong><\/em>| Luke Littler won on opening night 3-0 over Darius Labanauskas on the opening night of the PDC world darts championship at Alexandra Palace.<\/p>\n Football <\/strong><\/em>| Youri Tielemans struck within eight minutes of coming on to earn a 2-1 win for Aston Villa in Basel in the Europa League, their eighth victory in succession. Igor Jesus\u2019s late goal sealed Nottingham Forest a 2-1 win in Utrecht and boosted their hopes of a top-eight finish.<\/p>\n Our critics\u2019 roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>Installation view: Hyakk\u014d: 100+ Makers from Japan, Japan House, London<\/span> Photograph: Jeremie Souteyrat\/Japan House London<\/p>\n Exhibition TV Trevor Bingley is not Mr Bean, but the two have a few things in common. For a start, they are both self-destructively single-minded when it comes to overcoming trivial annoyances. In Netflix\u2019s 2022 series Man vs Bee, Bingley ended up building a fake explosive-laced hive to destroy the insect who refused to vacate the swish home he was house-sitting; for Bean, life consists almost exclusively of finding absurd solutions to minor problems. Both are pitiable figures: Bean because he\u2019s a walking disaster zone; Bingley because he\u2019s lonely and broke, having lost numerous jobs due to general ineptitude.<\/p>\n In Man vs Baby, Bingley is back, struggling to make ends meet in a chocolate-box village in the home counties. It\u2019s Christmas and he has just been let go as a primary school caretaker. His final job is to assist with the nativity (the opportunity to shamelessly channel Love Actually is not wasted). There, he discovers a baby on the doorstep; this must be the local child starring as Jesus in the play! Except, worryingly, it\u2019s not. Rachel Aroesti<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Film This new comedy drama written and directed by James L Brooks, feels like a relic, and not just because it\u2019s set, seemingly arbitrarily, in 2008. Broadly appealing, well cast, neither strictly comic nor melodramatic, concerning ordinary people in non-IP circumstances, it\u2019s the type of mid-budget adult film that used to appear regularly in cinemas in the 90s and aughts, before the streaming wars devoured the market. Even its lead promotional image, turned into a life-size cardboard cut-out at the theatre \u2013 Emma Mackey\u2019s titular Ella in a sensible trenchcoat, balancing on one foot as she fixes a broken block heel \u2013 recalls a bygone era of films like Confessions of a Shopaholic, Miss Congeniality or Little Miss Sunshine, that would now go straight to streaming. Adrian Horton<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Theatre Here is an excoriating production that examines what austerity meant for those targeted by it. They include some of the most vulnerable members of society \u2013 people who were abused, destitute, disabled, mentally ill and jobless (what was it that Pearl Buck said about the test of a civilisation?). The show is based on the lives of people who were denied welfare benefits and died. Directed by Sacha Wares, it is an installation that combines promenade theatre with holograms. Wearing a mixed-reality (MR) headset, you enter a room where eight static figures emerge, played by actors. They lie on gurneys, bare mattresses, park benches, pavements and soiled duvets, and make for a woeful army of \u201cinvisibles\u201d who have, for this time, come into our line of vision. Arifa Akbar<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cUK facing worst winter flu crisis within a fortnight as cases surge\u201d warns the Guardian <\/strong>and the i paper<\/strong> says \u201c\u2018Super flu\u2019 hits UK, with cases highest in young children\u201d. The Times<\/strong> runs with \u201cStreeting: strikes may force NHS to collapse\u201d. The Express<\/strong> catches both strains: \u201cStop \u2018reckless\u2019 strikes as NHS fights super flu\u201d. The Telegraph<\/strong> has \u201cBritain \u2018must not rely on US for defence\u2019\u201d \u2013 its interview is with Al Carns, a defence minister. Looks like the Mail<\/strong> was at the briefing too: \u201cMinister: Britain\u2019s on a war footing\u201d. \u201cWorld cup of greed\u201d \u2013 the Mirror<\/strong> says high ticket prices are a \u201cnew low for shameful Fifa\u201d. The Metro<\/strong> leads with the Bristol Museum robbery: \u201cRaiders of the lost archive\u201d. Top story in the Financial Times<\/strong> is \u201cChina leads resistance to US carve-out on OECD global minimum tax regime\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/span> Photograph: Joao Daniel Pereira\/ZUMA Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Is the far right hijacking Christianity?<\/strong><\/p>\n Are US-style Christian politics finally taking root in the UK? With Lamorna Ash<\/p>\n <\/span> Illustration: Ben Jennings\/The Guardian<\/p>\n A bit of good news to remind you that the world\u2019s not all bad<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>Nyandong Chang (left) and her friends carry water from a water kiosk to their homes in Bor, South Sudan.<\/span> Photograph: Florence Miettaux<\/p>\n Until last year, residents of Bor, South Sudan, filled up their jerrycans with dirty water from the nearest stretch of the White Nile. Now, a new water treatment plant has transformed the town in what is being seen as a beacon of climate crisis adaptation.<\/p>\n In 2020, the White Nile broke its banks and submerged the town in floods that had not been seen there for 60 years. Experts say extreme flooding due to climate breakdown has displaced just under 380,00 South Sudanese people. The town has now recovered, with the $5.4m (\u00a34m) project bringing in jobs for locals and connecting 704 households, seven schools and a hospital to the network. Locals say clean water has been life-changing: \u201cBefore, we have been suffering. But now we can get water anytime.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday<\/strong><\/p>\n And finally, the Guardian\u2019s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning. Last month, we brought you the story behind the Guardian\u2019s year-long investigation into the US-based Free Birth Society, a multi-million dollar business whose philosophy has been linked to traumatic births and even baby deaths around the world. The society promotes a version of free birth (or unassisted birth) with no medical support that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[5189,1043,12230,12528,376,533,1042,6697,16901,20563],"class_list":{"0":"post-37034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-birth","9":"tag-briefing","10":"tag-childbirth","11":"tag-contributed","12":"tag-death","13":"tag-free","14":"tag-friday","15":"tag-philosophy","16":"tag-preventable","17":"tag-societys"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Five big stories<\/h2>\n
\n
In depth: \u200b\u2018Am I about to lose everything right now?\u200b\u2019<\/h2>\n
What else we\u2019ve been reading<\/h2>\n
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Sport<\/h2>\n
Something for the weekend<\/h2>\n
Hyakk\u014d: 100+ Makers from Japan | \u2605\u2605\u2605<\/strong>\u2606\u2606
<\/strong>On show at London\u2019s Japan House is the work of more than 100 pairs of eyes and hands, constituting an overwhelming profusion of human creativity, corralled into an exhibition of laconic simplicity. About 2,000 objects \u2013 bowls, trays, cups, metalwork, glassware and some perplexing bamboo cocoons \u2013 are grouped according to their makers on long, softly lit display tables. At first glance, you might think you have stumbled into an especially refined John Lewis homeware department, but then you notice the delicate black and red lacquer work, the gleaming gold on the inside of a perfectly shaped sake cup, the intricacy of the bamboo and some eccentrically shaped vessels, like alien seedpods, that look like ceramics but turn out be a kind of petrified leather. Catherine Shoard<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Man Vs Baby, Rowan Atkinson\u2019s festival slapstick<\/strong> | \u2605\u2605<\/strong>\u2606\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n
Ella McCay<\/strong> | \u2605\u2605<\/strong>\u2606\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n
Museum of Austerity at the Young Vic<\/strong> | \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/strong>\u2606<\/p>\nThe front pages<\/h2>\n
Today in Focus<\/h2>\n
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings<\/h2>\n
The Upside<\/h2>\n
Bored at work?<\/h2>\n