Interview: Beatrijs Smulders. Interview by Ina May Gaskin.

The Netherlands' stubborn refusal to march in lock-step with the rest of the industrialized world, when it comes to maternity care provides important lessons for other nations. Beatrijs Smulders, author of Baren ('Giving Birth') and producer of several videos on vertical home-birthing, has been working as an Amsterdam midwife since 1979 and today plays a leading role in Dutch midwifery. Here, she explores new territory through home birth, working toward a practice both less regulated by and less reliant on prevailing institutions.