Women face giving birth alone as doulas blocked from accompanying them during labour

‘I thought they had changed the rules – but on the day I started having contractions, they said no,’ mother-of-two tells Maya Oppenheim

Charities warned doulas, a woman who is employed to help pregnant women going through labour, were being routinely barred from going into home births and maternity units (AFP/Getty)

Doulas are being blocked from accompanying pregnant women in the delivery room due to the coronavirus crisis – leaving some facing the prospect of giving birth alone.

Charities warned mothers-to-be could be needlessly traumatised because doulas – experts who help pregnant women in labour – are being routinely barred from home births and maternity units due to women only being allowed to have birthing partners from their same household.

It comes after The Independent reported pregnancy services in the UK were struggling under the strain of the outbreak, with some maternity units 30 or 40 per cent down on staff and substantial numbers of birth centres being turned into Covid-19 units.