Women were never meant to give birth on their backs (bbc.com)

The BBC explains that while women have given birth upright for thousands of years, many modern hospitals use supine or semi-supine positions. It traces the shift to 17th-century French medical advice that portrayed pregnancy as an illness and promoted reclining for physician convenience, and notes how gravity-based upright labour has been linked in studies to outcomes such as lower caesarean rates and less need for epidurals. Current guidance in places like the UK encourages women to avoid lying flat in the second stage and choose more comfortable positions.