Unassisted Childbirth | Laura Shanley

Unassisted Childbirth | Laura Shanley

From Whose Body Is It by Isabella Malbin

December 15, 2025 · 1h 1m

About this episode

Laura Shanley shares her personal journey and insights on unassisted childbirth and the philosophy behind it.

In this episode Laura Shanley shares the deeply personal journey that led her to write Unassisted Childbirth -originally titled The Joy of Childbirth- a book published in 1994 that has since found its way into over 1,000 libraries worldwide. Long before “free birth” was a movement or an identity, Laura was navigating the path of unassisted childbirth largely alone— choosing unassisted birth for her five children in the 1970s and 80s without ever knowingly having met another woman who had done the same. Inspired by Grantly Dick-Read’s Childbirth Without Fear -the book her future husband was reading the very night they met - Laura’s philosophy was shaped by her intuition, pursuit of spirituality and a higher consciousness, and a refusal to accept fear-based narratives around birth. Laura discusses how her work gained attention: including the pressure to turn her book into a “how-to manual,” and to write about who should and shouldn’t birth unassisted…lines she felt were never her place to draw. Many of the unassisted births she documents in her book and website weren’t even intentional, but instead the natural result of fast, pleasurable labors. While Laura found allies like…

People in this episode

Host: Isabella Malbin

Guest: Laura Shanley

Topics covered

  • unassisted childbirth
  • free birth
  • childbirth experiences
  • birth philosophy
  • spirituality in childbirth

Keywords

  • unassisted childbirth
  • free birth
  • childbirth without fear
  • spirituality
  • birth narratives

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Unassisted Childbirth, The Joy of Childbirth

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