Hungarian home birth advocate is jailed after “long campaign of harassment” against her

An internationally recognised obstetrician and midwife has been held in a maximum security Hungarian prison since early October after a pregnant woman unexpectedly went into labour at her home birthing centre in Budapest and gave birth to a baby boy who had serious breathing difficulties and had to be transferred to hospital.

Ágnes Geréb’s imprisonment while the case is investigated has triggered widespread condemnation from around the world.

The doctor is already facing criminal charges in four separate cases brought against her and four colleagues during the past few years. The four counts, being considered at the same time by one court, relate to home births where the mother or child had complications. In two of the births the mothers had a …