14 May 2021
One-in-five British women who gave birth in December were told to wear masks during labour, a poll suggests, despite medical guidance advising against it because it could cause “potential harm”.
The poll of 936 women conducted by the charity Pregnant Then Screwed and seen by BBC News revealed that some 20 per cent were ordered to wear a mask by medical professionals attending them at births, including 10 per cent having a natural birth and 50 per cent having a caesarian section.
This was against the recommendations laid out in a briefing document from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). Despite one in five women being told to do so, the RCM’s Dr Mary Ross Davie, who wrote the body’s guidance on mask-wearing during labour, claimed she believed such instances of women being forced to do so were “very rare”.