Community power building: reflections from Birthrights’ Community Conversation in Leeds
Birthrights’ Training Manager, Farah Lodhi, shares her reflections and learnings from our Leeds Community Conversation.
Longer reads, analysis and your stories
Birthrights’ Training Manager, Farah Lodhi, shares her reflections and learnings from our Leeds Community Conversation.
For years, Tiffany has been suffering the long-term effects from extreme vaginal tearing during her first birth. Here, in her own words, she explains some of the coercion she faced during the birth and immediate aftermath…
Becky had a terrible experience with her second pregnancy for a number of reasons. A key issue was that the hospital had noted her due date as two weeks ahead of Becky’s own calculations, which led to a sustained campaign of pressure and coercion to deliver much earlier than Becky had wanted to. Read Becky’s story
Anna suffered a horrific birth full of coercion in 2023, compounded by the fact that her disability birth plan was never seen or followed during her labour. The trauma is long-lasting and has led her and her husband to decide not to have any more children. Here she bravely explains in her own words.
Birthrights’ Training Manager, Farah Lodhi, shares her reflections and learnings from our Baring-funded Community Conversations project.
As part of our Baring-funded Community Conversations project, Birthrights is proud to share our partnership with WOMB on an upcoming Community Conversations event taking place in Cardiff this Thursday, 5th February 2026.
Birthrights, Gloucestershire Maternity Action Group and an individual claimant have written to Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and put them on notice of our intention to apply for judicial review of their decision to suspend the home birth service for an unspecified length of time, which was made in breach of human rights and equality law.
2025 has been a year of change, growth and challenge for Birthrights.
But our mission remains clear.
Our maternity system is still in crisis, and it is more urgent than ever to do the work that will enable all women and birthing people to make informed, autonomous decisions about their care, free from coercion, discrimination or punishment.
My first month as Birthrights’ CEO has been a heady mix of excitement and intensity as I learn more about the work, the future plans and meet the incredible team. I have been relieved to learn that all the things that attracted me to Birthrights are indeed true in practice and some more.
Tara’s story: An RAF lawyer fighting to make military maternity services fairer. Here Tara shares her story, how she came into contact with Birthrights and why she is fighting to change military policy around elective caesareans…