In September 2025, Melbourne wellness influencer Stacey Warnke decided to give birth at home, free of 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 multi-million dollar business that trains unregulated birth support workers.
Warnke is one of a growing number of women who choose medically unassisted childbirth, known as ‘freebirth’, and has 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 Melissa Davy and investigative reporter sirin black On the inquiry so far and what we know about Free Birth Society
