Jul 21, 2026 · 32 min · 13 segments
This episode features Professor Soo Downe OBE, whose research has reshaped how we think about pregnancy and birth. For decades Soo has asked what good maternity care actually looks like, championing…
Sue DownGuest
Judith JohnsonHost
from? At the time when we, I and others, were engaging with this agenda, we were in a situation where in the late 80s, early 90s, induction rates were about 70%.
And then they had all kinds of machinery operating around them when they were giving birth.
And they were also in the hospital I was in at the time, Our labour ward was a nightingale ward, so they were next to each other with curtains between them, having these labours.
And it just seemed to me, A, inhumane that these women were labouring like that without companions.
And B, I couldn't understand why they needed all this equipment, having seen these women give birth in Baputa Swana.
And of course, you know, I realized at the time, and still would say now, some women definitely need interventions.
But it's actually maintaining the potential for those women who are the majority around the world, according to our research, who would prefer to labor and give birth spontaneously.
And as our research has gone on, I've seen the consequences of that as well when we've looked at some of our data in terms of the long-term effects of maintaining that potential for physiology.
It started with just, well, why can't women labour without this? And how dare we make them labour in rooms without companions, flat on their back? And it's kind of evolved into the situation, the more complex understanding that I would now bring to the topic, I suppose.
from? At the time when we, I and others, were engaging with this agenda, we were in a situation where in the late 80s, early 90s, induction rates were about 70%.
And then they had all kinds of machinery operating around them when they were giving birth.
And they were also in the hospital I was in at the time, Our labour ward was a nightingale ward, so they were next to each other with curtains between them, having these labours.
And it just seemed to me, A, inhumane that these women were labouring like that without companions.
And B, I couldn't understand why they needed all this equipment, having seen these women give birth in Baputa Swana.
And of course, you know, I realized at the time, and still would say now, some women definitely need interventions.
But it's actually maintaining the potential for those women who are the majority around the world, according to our research, who would prefer to labor and give birth spontaneously.
And as our research has gone on, I've seen the consequences of that as well when we've looked at some of our data in terms of the long-term effects of maintaining that potential for physiology.
It started with just, well, why can't women labour without this? And how dare we make them labour in rooms without companions, flat on their back? And it's kind of evolved into the situation, the more complex understanding that I would now bring to the topic, I suppose.
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