In September 2025, Stacey Warnke, a Melbourne-based wellness influencer, decided to give birth at home, without all medical assistance. When she went into labor, no one was present except her husband and a woman named Emily Lal. Warnke later died in hospital.
Lal, who describes herself as a “birth savior”, had no formal medical training and had taken an online course offered by the Free Birth Society, a multimillion-dollar business that trains unregulated birth support workers.
Warnke was one of the growing number of women who chose medically unassisted childbirth, known as “freebirth”, and was one of the first non-medically trained supporters for her pregnancy.
The coroner, Therese McCarthy, is considering the why is an important question to uncover.
Reged Ahmed spoke to the medical editor of Guardian Australia, Melissa Davyand investigative reporter sirin black About the inquiry so far and what we know about the Free Birth Society.
