The Minister of health of Lithuania Aurelijus Veryga formed a working group, which is the summer to develop proposals for the legalization of home births.
The Minister stressed the need to respect the right of women to choose from, and as more and more women prefer to give birth at home, “it is impossible to condemn them and not to see reality,” – said the Ministry of health.
“It is necessary to establish specific terms and conditions, and priority should be the safety of mother and child, as is done in other European countries. You need to very clearly define when you can not give birth in a hospital what kind of help and what kind of skills a professional midwife can give the woman in labor,” said A. Veryga.
According to the Minister, now in Lithuania there was a strange situation – to give birth at home is not prohibited, but it is not legally regulated, as if no one is responsible for the safety of the mother and the newborn, possible serious consequences.
Because the state has not yet legalized home births, Lithuanian prosecutors several years ago began an investigation regarding home deliveries, now go trials.
