I'd still invite him out, and give him the space to be an adult and make his own decisions.

At the end of both pregnancies I was keen for DH to get out as much as humanly possible because I knew it would be his last outing on his own for quite some time. He is an adult. He knows what he can and can't do, and still be a responsible husband, birth support person and father.

If DH didn't make it to the birth because he was at an event, it was DH's fault, and no one else's.

Yep, this. It would tick me off no end if people stopped invinting me (or my partner) out to events/gatherings/concerts/footy games/anything because I was close to having a baby. Patronising in the extreme.

If I/we/he doesn't want to go, then we won't, and are capable of making that decision for ourselves. Just because we are hainv a baby doesn't mean our life ends. We live in a modern world, with phones, radios, Facebook...he is a big boy, can make big boy decisions, like whether or not it is responsible to get smashed while out, and to accept the consequences of said decisions (like being too drunk to attend the birth of his child) but that is HIS choice to make, not his friends.

So yes, I would ask.