Woman takes legal action in bid to have home birth

A mother has gone to the High Court in a bid to make the HSE comply with her request for a home birth.

University lecturer Aja Teehan, who is 29 weeks’ pregnant, wants to have her second child at home in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, assisted by a midwife.

However, she claims a “blanket policy” by the HSE of refusing to cover home births for women who have previously had caesarean section births, means she cannot have her baby at home as a midwife will not get indemnity cover to attend on her.