Freebirth in an Age of Hospitals

December 18th, 2025 | 6 min read

I’ve always found it ironic that Rachel died in childbirth.

true true

Want to keep reading?

Subscribe for free to access this article and all of our resources.

Nadya Williams is the Books Editor at Mere Orthodoxy. She holds a PhD in Classics from Princeton University and is the author of Cultural Christians in the Early Church; Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic: Ancient Christianity and the Recovery of Human Dignity; and Christians Reading Classics (forthcoming Zondervan Academic, 2025). She and her husband Dan joyfully live and homeschool in Ashland, Ohio.

Topics:

Family

Technology

Health & Medicine

Freebirth in an Age of Hospitals

Want to keep reading?

Keeping Kids Christian: Bonus Q and A

Leaving Home to Save It

In Relation to God: A World Down Syndrome Day Reflection

How Marriage Actually Refers to Christ and the Church

Discipleship Begins in the Home (But the Church Is Essential Too)

Marriage, Family, and the Intellectual Life: Interview with John and Katelyn Shelton

The Goodness of Caring for Other People's Children

Marriage, Family, and the Intellectual Life: Charles and Tessa Carman

The Need for Father-Scholars

In This House of Death: What Does Sanctity of Human Life Month Mean in 2026?

Why It Is Difficult to Talk About Ethics of the Body

Shaping Conscience on Issues where Scripture is Silent

Misunderstanding Porn

Discernment, Angst, and Vocational Celibacy

Sex, Virtue, Technology

On Contraception, Tradition, and the Wise(r) Use of Christian History

Parenting an Autistic Child in 2025

The Separation of Woman and Womb: A Warning

Sexuality and the Need for Moral Guidance

Desiderata for a Protestant Theology of the Body

The Case Against Vasectomies

Cats and Sixty Foot Whales: Reflections on Children’s Books

Markets and the Strangulation of the American Family

Tethered Still