Thanks to the activism of women like Katie Vigos of the Empowered Birth Project, Facebook, and Instagram stopped removing posts of ᴄʜɪʟᴅʙɪʀtʜ and ʙʀᴇᴀstꜰᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ mothers late last year. Previously, the social media ɢɪᴀɴts considered birth photos too ɢʀᴀᴘʜɪᴄ and in violation of their policies ᴀɢᴀɪɴst ɴᴜᴅɪtʏ. But Vigos (and the more than 23,000 people who signed her Ϲhange.org petition) believed that by ᴄᴇɴsᴏʀɪɴɢ ʙɪʀtʜ, the platforms were reinforcing the sʜᴀᴍᴇ, stɪɢᴍᴀ ᴀɴᴅ sᴏᴄɪᴀʟ tᴀʙᴏᴏ around it.

Vigos said: “You either allow birth to exist on your platform, or you don’t. The petition is representative of our much bigger ᴍɪssɪᴏɴ to empower ourselves as women—whether it’s about our ʙᴏᴅɪʟʏ ᴀᴜtᴏɴᴏᴍʏ, our ability to birth with informed decisions and support, ᴄᴇɴsᴏʀsʜɪᴘ ᴏꜰ ᴏᴜʀ ʙᴏᴅɪᴇs, tʜᴇ ᴅᴇ-stɪɢᴍᴀtɪᴢᴀtɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴇɴstʀᴜᴀtɪᴏɴ.”

Today, a quick search of the hashtags #birthisbeautiful or #birthwithoutfear brings up hundreds of images of babies making their entrance into this world. We rounded up over 12 of the most stunning images of birth from some of our favorite photographers to show the power of capturing the moment.

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