In France, the policy on decentralisation and the organisation of prenatal care is governed and mandated by a decree issued in 1998 whose objective is to improve prevention of pre-maturity and prenatal risks. Within this context, 49 maternal and child health professionals were interviewed by using a qualitative questionnaire to evaluate the implementation and enforcement of the decree specifically in the region of Lyon. This report presents an analysis of the mechanisms and psychosocial issues of the over-medicalisation of birth. This over-medicalisation stems from the inseparable interactions between the ranking of skills within a firm hierarchy - linked in and of itself to the hierarchical status of health facilities - and the progression of attributing the birthing process as one with is more disease-based, surgically-based and judicially-based.