Announcing... Labour Pains panel

Women being judged for how they do things is nothing new, but against a backdrop of recent heartbreaking scandals in labour care, what does it mean to give birth in 2024? How much pressure are women under to forgo interventions during labour in pursuit of the seemingly holy grail of ‘natural’ birth, and what trauma does that leave women and their families with afterwards?

Despite advances in modern medicine, why does it seem for childbirth, medicine and the advice women are given seems to have regressed?

Joining host Nicola Throp to unravel how we got here and what should we do about it will be:

Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster - writer and historian of medicine, science, and the emotions, Agnes has a PhD in modern medical history and co-leads a project called Healthy Scepticism, which seeks to know and better under the people who have been placed, or place themselves, outside the medical mainstream. She has published widely in academic and medical journals, appeared on BBC radio, and has written for The Guardian, Time Magazine, the Washington Post, the TLS, the Independent, and Refinery29.

Catherine Roy - a patient safety campaigner with an interest in pseudoscience in maternity care. She is a founder of Maternity Safety Alliance, a group dedicated to improving maternity outcomes and part of the Infant Feeding Alliance which aims to promote better inclusivity in infant feeding policy and practise. She has written the book Autonomous: The Pregnancy Book for First-Time Mums and Birthing People.

Dr Annabel Sowemimo - doctor, academic, activist, and writer, Annabel is a London-based Consultant in Community Sexual & Reproductive Health in the NHS, and founder of charity the Reproductive Justice Initiative (RJI), which aims to address health inequalities and racial disparities. Annabel is a part-time PhD candidate and Harold Moody Scholar at King’s College London, with her research focusing on the experiences of Black women in Britain with fertility control methods.

As with all of our panels, entry to Labour Pains is included with all QED tickets, costing £189 for an in-person ticket, or £45 for an online streaming ticket.