PRESS RELEASE - for immediate release
One Woman, One Mission, One Book
"Born Stroppy" and Built to Fight for Birth Rights
[United Kingdom, 23rdApril 2025]Born Stroppy isn't just the title of Ruth Weston's powerful new book - it's a way of life. For more than thirty years, Ruth has been a fierce advocate for women's birth choices in the UK, a mission that began with her own experiences of resistance and judgement. One doctor dismissed her desire for a water birth, saying, "Only whales and dolphins have babies under water."
As a mother of five, Ruth was repeatedly dismissed, obstructed, and denied choices - yet she refused to be silenced. Her passion for change only grew, despite being branded as "that woman" and "stroppy mum" along the way.
Three decades later, little has improved in UK maternity care - and in some areas, things have deteriorated. A recent Imperial College London report revealed a worrying rise in maternal deaths: from 9.71 per 100,000 in 2022 to 13.41 in 2024, with the most unsafe care found in the north of England and the highest death rates being among Black women.
Still, Ruth continues her fight. What began as a small support group in her home has become a thriving regional and national network for birth choice advocacy. Her commitment is as strong as ever.
Born Stroppy is the result - a moving memoir and a call to action for parents, midwives, doulas, and health professionals. It's part life story, part manifesto for improving maternity services, part handbook for change.
Ruth's journey also includes the unexpected purchase of a birth pool hire company just eight weeks before the birth of her fourth child. Under her leadership, the business grew into one of the UK's leading manufacturers of birthing pools and church baptistries.
Widely respected for her dedication, Ruth chaired the Bradford and Airedale Maternity Services Liaison Committee (MSLC) and helped launch the Bradford Community Doula Scheme. She also trained as a breastfeeding peer supporter and played a key role in establishing several local support groups.
Now living in Powys, Wales, Ruth remains connected in the Bradford community, where her children were born and raised. It was this experience of births and miscarriages which drove her into birth activism.
Her activism has drawn media attention over the years. She featured in the documentary Desperate Midwives - the only woman shown having a home water birth supported by an independent midwife - and has appeared in multiple TV programmes, radio interviews, and newspaper articles.
A theologian and politically engaged citizen, Ruth shares the observation of Jim Wallis that politicians of all kinds, NHS managers included, follow the way the political wind is blowing. "So let us change the political wind," she says, and uses the metaphor of the dandelion.
"Let us be dandelions," she says. "Maybe despised, but cheerful, persistent, and everywhere. And when the wind blows, our seeds will float far and wide, spreading joy and change."
About the Author
Ruth Weston is a social entrepreneur, activist, and mother of five. Turning to birth activism after becoming a mother, Ruth later transformed a small birth pool hire business into a leading UK manufacturer and founded a national birth choices support network.
Ruth is known for her advocacy in maternity care, breastfeeding, and policy change. Her strategic thinking and advocacy are shared in this book.
Notes
• Born Stroppy by Ruth Weston, published by Book Brilliance Publishing, 10th May 2025, RRP £16.99, paperback and eBook, ISBN 978-1-913770-97-6.
• Pre-order on Amazon, from all good bookshops, or directly from the author:https://ruthweston.co.uk/books/
• For media inquiries and interviews, please contactadmin@bookbrilliancepublishing.com
"You can't change a nation by replacing one wet-fingered politician with another.
You change a nation when you change the wind. You change the way the wind is blowing."
Jim Wallis
God's Politics
