When Victoria Gianopoulos-Johnson got a call from her midwife to say her home birth would be cancelled, panic took hold. She says she “lost it” for two days, crying constantly, gripped by uncertainty and then anger.

The 33-year-old from the Highlands, whose baby boy is due at the end of April, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the birth of her first child and wants to avoid a hospital delivery at all costs. Now she has reached the decision to have a free birth, also known as unassisted childbirth.

Maternity rights groups say there has been a rise in the number of women seeking advice about freebirthing owing to pressures on hospitals and new restrictions around birth partners.

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More than a fifth of birthing centres and more than a third of homebirth services have closed due to a shortage of midwives and concerns about ambulance response times.

Alison Edwards, of Doula UK, whose 700 members advocate for expectant mothers, says she has seen a threefold increase in calls about freebirthing in the last fortnight.

“Initially women were concerned about staff shortages,” says Edwards. “Now they don’t want to go to hospital at all, it’s about infection. It is inevitable that some who should not be freebirthing because they are in a high-risk category will give birth at home because they fear the alternative – infection from [coronavirus] or spending time in hospital without their partner’s support.”

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists asserts a woman’s right to give birth “in an environment in which she feels comfortable” and to be supported in her birth choice but also notes that “some women have a higher risk of complications and childbirth can be unpredictable even among women at low risk of complications”.

The Guardian has spoken to six women who are planning free births because community midwife services have been withdrawn in their area.

When Gianopoulos-Johnson found out about the cancellation, she contacted her MSP, made inquiries about giving birth under another local authority and looked for an independent midwife. After exhausting those options she began researching unassisted childbirth.

“I found I was breathing for the first time,” she says. “I thought: OK, my mind is not there yet but my body is reacting viscerally to this. I researched obsessively and enrolled in a course. Then I stopped crying and slept for the first time.”

She plans to give birth with just her husband and children present. She has made peace with her decision, saying: “I feel it’s not about confidence but preparation.”

For Sandra Cox, 28, from Edinburgh, whose baby is due in nine weeks, the decision to freebirth fills her with anxiety. But with the option of a home birth removed, she feels it is less risky than a hospital birth.

“I’m concerned about the current stress levels in hospitals, it’s not the right environment for my baby, and if I had to stay in, my partner would be unable to visit. I’m also worried about coronavirus because my son has severe asthma,” Cox says.

Last week the charity Birthrights called for the protection of maternity rights, saying it had been inundated with concerns about the removal of home birth and birth centre options without thorough investigation.

“We believe this action may be unlawful and could lead trusts to be responsible for significant risk to life if women choose to birth without medical assistance,” it said.

The charity said frightened women were asking about restrictions on birth partners, who in many hospitals can be present only during active labour and in a small minority of cases are banned altogether, despite strict guidelines from NHS England that birth partners should be allowed.

The crisis has also presented a dilemma for doulas. Daisy Dinwoodie, of the Scottish Doula Network, said: “Two women have been in touch this week saying they will freebirth and asking for support. It puts me in a very difficult position because I’m not medically trained, my role is emotional support.

“In the current climate I fear doulas will be blamed for women making that choice if we are present at the birth. These aren’t women who would normally opt for this – they feel pushed away from the hospital because they can’t have their doula and partner present for the duration.”

Michaela Kalusova, of London Bliss Doulas, says she is supporting a woman whose due date was on Wednesday.

“I will help because otherwise she says she will freebirth alone. She rung in tears after her home birth was cancelled. She wanted a midwife and we discussed at length whether she feels safe without one. I made it very clear I’m not a trained medic.”

Kalusova has been present at around 10 free births but says: “This is completely different. Free birth should be a planned choice but this woman feels forced into it. She says hospital is not an option due to a traumatic first birth. I’m hearing of many others in the same position.”

Samia Ahmad, who is 32 weeks pregnant with her third child, is also opting for a free birth due to midwife shortages. She said: “I’m not going to have a doula because I don’t have the financial resources or the timeframe to build the necessary rapport.”

Ahmad previously lodged two complaints with the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust regarding her first birth and what she calls the “appalling aftercare” following the unplanned unassisted birth at home of her second baby.

She says: “I feel I have no choice but to freebirth. I’d like to catch the baby myself. I did it with my son, I caught him in my kitchen even though it wasn’t planned and I have faith I can do it again.”

But she says that when she told her midwife she would pursue a freebirth she was warned that children’s services could be notified.

“She made me feel awful and asked how I would live with myself if something went wrong. But I know my legal rights to choose where I give birth. I’m the one not getting support for the birth I want, and I’m being backed into a corner.”

It is legal in the UK for a woman to freebirth and decline antenatal care. The Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (AIMS) states: “A woman does not have to justify her decision, nor base it on a particular reason.”

Its chair of trustees, Debbie Chippington Derrick, said: “AIMS is receiving a worrying number of calls from women asking if they can birth at home when they have been refused support from a midwife. They should not be forced to choose between leaving home to birth or birthing without medical assistance.

“Sometimes women refusing to attend hospital find themselves threatened with referral to children’s services as a means of coercion. Referral should only be considered if there is concern about the wellbeing of the baby after it is born, not because the mother is exercising her legal right to decline care.”

Gill Walton, the chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “The impact of the current crisis may mean pregnant women cannot have the birth they planned. Keeping services at a single location, like a hospital, means that, at a time when resources are stretched, women continue to get the care and support they need, quickly, safely and effectively.”

Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust was contacted by the Guardian and declined to comment.

*Some names were changed to protect identities.