Journal Page

Freebirth: The illusion of freedom

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 The theme of this issue of the AIMS journal is ‘sovereignty of the body’. Sovereignty of the body (or bodily autonomy…   Read more…

Sovereignty in Transition: The Inner Reorganisation of Pregnancy

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Sherine Lovegrove We are living in a time where women have risen beyond where they have ever been before. We are m…   Read more…

“Safe is not enough”: Sovereignty, medicalisation, and the role of the midwife

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Karen Lawrence “ Safe is not enough. What is the point in safe if you die inside yourself? How can you ever be saf…   Read more…

Reclaiming Birth Sovereignty: Through Us, the World is Born

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 This wonderful article is reprinted with the kind permission of Kai Njeri and Myrthe Glasbergen from Beyond Psycholog…   Read more…

Sovereignty and the Black and Brown Body in the Maternity System

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Mars Lord Sovereignty means ownership. It means the right to decide what happens to your body, on your terms, with…   Read more…

Sovereignty of the body: A reflection.

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Catherine Williams The Editor has asked me, as an AIMS volunteer, to say something about the origin of my (as she…   Read more…

Birth Sovereignty is Kindness

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Rebeka Tabobondung Giving birth has been the single most powerful moment of my life, one I now understand holds th…   Read more…

Sovereignty of the Body: Birth, Intuition, and the Art of Trust through the eyes of a painter

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Tamara Blakemore The First Breath I’m a birth artist, and apparently I’m here to talk about the sovereignty of the…   Read more…

Sovereign decisions about CTG monitoring: Having the courage of your convictions.

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 Inanna, Sumerian Queen of Heaven and Earth . 1 By Alex Smith and Dr Kirsten Small A sovereign decision, in keeping wi…   Read more…

REBIRTH FESTIVAL 2025

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 This talk is included with the kind permission of the speaker. We have linked it to the keynote talk given by AIMS vo…   Read more…

An interview with Katherine Hales

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 Interviewed by Jo Dagustun 1. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed by AIMS, Katherine. To start, can you tell us…   Read more…

Planning Care: What One Hundred Families Have Taught Us About Placenta Accreta Spectrum

Vol. 38, No. 2, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 Amisha Adhia, Founder, Action for Accreta, and Miss Chineze Otigbah, Consultant Obstetrician One Hundred Families Sin…   Read more…

Out of Sync: Antenatal Education and the Present-Day Maternity System. Eight takeaways for more effective birth preparation

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Hannah Northern Thakur Setting the scene: my NCT experience I took an NCT course four years ago ahead of my daught…   Read more…

Antenatal practitioners’ experiences and opinions on online antenatal education

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Terri Harman Introduction For my bachelor’s research , I explored antenatal practitioners’ experiences and opinion…   Read more…

What is good antenatal education?

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Naomi Glass What is true birth preparation? Can there be too much or too little birth preparation? And can anythin…   Read more…

Antenatal education: What is the point?

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Alex Smith Throughout history people have seen education as having different purposes. Or, to put it another way,…   Read more…

Uncomfortable learning: Bitter roots; sweet fruit. Why we need to understand cultural constructs, hegemony, phantasms and transhumanism.

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Alex Smith I was in a discussion with Danish midwife Jacqueline Vejlstrup recently and it really got me thinking.…   Read more…

What makes for good antenatal education in the current birth climate, and why?

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Janet Balaskas Many years ago, in the late 1970’s, I gave birth for the first time. A few weeks before the birth I…   Read more…

Why, as a neurodiverse antenatal teacher, I understand the needs of neurodiverse parents and the benefit of face-to-face education

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Rebecca Cumming As a neurodiverse antenatal teacher, I bring both professional knowledge and lived experience to m…   Read more…

ANTENATAL EDUCATION: A pedagogy of the oppressed

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Mary Nolan My brief for this article outlined by AIMS Editor, Alex Smith (an innovative, radical and hugely skille…   Read more…

What do women learn about birth and where? Extending the concept of antenatal education to ‘the birthroom’

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 In this article, AIMS volunteer Jo Dagustun draws on her work as a geography student, to offer some thoughts on the c…   Read more…

Teaching consent: A conversation

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 With Rachael Bickley and Alex Smith I started my conversation with Rachael by asking her to introduce herself. Rachae…   Read more…

Editorial: What is there to learn? Different perspectives on preparing for birth

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 By Alex Smith Welcome to the March edition of the AIMS journal. This issue explores the question of antenatal educati…   Read more…

Antenatal Education in Imaginary Hindsight.

Vol. 38, No. 1, ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 1 An Editorial foreword: As an antenatal educator I would often invite the expectant parents to imagine that their baby…   Read more…

Latest Content

Journal

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Sovereignty of the Body: Birth, Int…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Tamara Blakemore The First Breath I’m a birth artist, and apparently I’m here to talk about the sovereignty of the body, which feels s…

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Scottish Maternity Update: Review o…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Camille Del Pozo and Anne Glover on behalf of the AIMS Campaigns Team Background AIMS wrote to Neil Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for He…

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The sovereignty of the body in preg…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Alex Smith Welcome to the June 2026 edition of the AIMS journal. This issue is about the sovereignty of the body in pregnancy and chil…

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Events

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AIMS Workshop: Wellbeing

AIMS is delighted to be hosting a Wellbeing workshop delivered by Ruth Weston , veteran birth activist, AIMS volunteer and author of 'Born Stroppy Make Change Happen'. Th…

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Threads of Protest

Join us for the launch of Threads of Protest A new exhibition at Science Gallery London exploring inequality in maternity care through creative practice, lived experience…

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AIMS Workshop: Focusing on Rights i…

Join us for one of our series of interactive online AIMS workshops, " Focusing on Rights in Pregnancy and Birth ". Emma Ashworth (principal author of "The AIMS Guide to Y…

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Latest Campaigns

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Making sense of maternity service r…

By Jo Dagustun, Senior Campaigns Volunteer As readers grapple with the latest set of national recommendations and actions from Donna Ockenden's Nottingham report , Valeri…

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AIMS comments on the 10 Point Plan…

In the light of two recently-published hefty reports on the past and present functionality of the maternity and neonatal services, first in Nottingham and then across Eng…

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Open letter to Michelle Welsh MP, N…

17th June 2026 Dear Michelle The AIMS Campaigns Team, and AIMS more broadly, would like to warmly welcome you to your new role as National Maternity Advisor. We look forw…

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