Ágnes Geréb is granted clemency by the Hungarian President, János Áder

28^th June 2018

"This act of clemency is about more than me. It is an acknowledgement of liberty in giving birth. It is a recognition by the state that the rights of women to make decisions about the circumstances of their children’s birth must be acknowledged."

AIMS is delighted by the news that the Hungarian obstetrician and midwife, Ágnes Geréb, has been granted clemency from her prison sentence by the Hungarian President. This does not mean that Ágnes has been pardoned, and she will not be permitted to practice midwifery. We are waiting for news from her support team about whether she will continue to fight for a full pardon.

Agnes’ formal announcement says, “Dr Geréb has made the freedom of childbirth the centre of her life’s work. Part of this work was her contribution to legislation that empowers the autonomy of women in childbirth. One result of her four decades of work is that the presence of fathers at childbirth, once forbidden in Hungary, is now commonplace. More importantly, her work resulted in legislation which legalised homebirth in Hungary. This not only expanded the rights of birthing women, but improved hospital practices as well. Dr Geréb has made a significant and lasting impact on Hungarian society by introducing undisturbed birth and fighting for the rights of women and their babies.”