My submission to the Senate Committee

[sneakysparkle]

you are SO AWESOME!!! I need a bowing emoticon!

[e_p]

Julie that is the best thing I've read in yonks!!

[Traveller]

What an awesome statement
That they listen

[Julie Doula]

By contrast, here is a media release from NASOG:

http://www.nasog.org.au/documents/me...ase_090818.pdf

Tuesday August 18 2009
Please Put the Safety of Babies and their Mothers Ahead of Home Birth Ideology: Specialist Doctors
Australia’s peak group of obstetricians and gynaecologists today repeated its warning that home births – with or without a midwife – carry too much risk to babies and their mothers and the Government should resist calls to indemnify midwives outside of hospitals.
The President of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (NASOG),
Dr Hilary Joyce, congratulated the Government-majority Senate Committee investigating proposed
legislation relating to the role of midwives, for putting the safety of babies ahead of protestations by a small but vocal minority of people.
“I would urge all politicians to look to the evidence and to speak to the doctors and the midwives who
have to deal with some of the tragic consequences of home births,” Dr Joyce said today.
“Australia has one of the safest and highest quality maternity services in the world where specialist
doctors work side by side with qualified midwives to ensure babies and their mothers have a safe and successful birth experience.”
Dr Joyce said she was determined to help drive change in the way public and private hospitals present their maternity services to encourage all expectant mothers to opt for a safe and positive outcome under the care of specialist doctors and midwives working together.
“There is irrefutable evidence that women and babies are significantly safer in hospitals because of
the immediate access to specialist care. Thankfully, only 0.25% of Australian women risk their lives
and that of their babies by choosing a home birth.”
Dr Joyce said the Minister for Health and Ageing was acting in the best interests of babies and their
mothers by refusing to financially endorse the unsafe practice of delivering babies at home.
“There are things that can go wrong suddenly in a birth which, if not under specialist care or near
medical assistance, can result in an avoidable death or permanent injury,” Dr Joyce explained.
Dr Joyce said rather than call for the Government to fund insurance for an unsafe practice, politicians and health professionals should ask for funding to be directed to educating women and their families about the risks of home births.”
Dr Joyce said her organisation would continue to work closely with the Federal Government to
deliver the optimal collaborative model of obstetric care to all Australian women.

... "educating" women about the risks of homebirth? More like brain-washing according to their self-serving bias and using scare tactics to force compliance.

[Julie Doula]

*ahem* brace yourselves dears because this submission comes from someone who calls a spade a spade!!!

Dear Fascist Bully Boys,
I don't know why I am bothering to write this, because it made no f***ing difference the first 8 times I wrote it. I want the right to make my own decisions about where and with whom I use my vagina. I don't want your input on whom I sleep with nor with whom I choose to birth with.
Do you really honestly think for one minute that you care more about the outcome of my birth than I do? How much have you invested into my birth? Who much has Pesche? THIS IS MY CHILD AND MY BODY... I HAVE INVESTED EVERYTHING IN IT!
I don't want your medicare. I don't want your insurance. I don’t want your idea of collaboration. I just want to be treated like the highly intelligent person that I am and given the basic human right to choose homebirth with a midwife for myself and my family.
Please keep your laws off my body.
Signed,
Angry tax-payer

I love it!

[paradise lost]

This is very interesting - on what grounds do they repeatedly say homebirth isn't safe? That wouldn't fly in the UK, because there are no medical studies to support the assertion. People might say/think it, but the government couldn't say it or act on it...

Bx

[Traveller]

I love the 2nd submission too