That was really great Maya.

I used some of the one on the bellybelly facebook page and added a bit of my story with it. This is what I wrote:


I am writing to you today because I feel strongly about the proposed legislation that will stop independent midwives from practising in this country.

I myself am not a homebirther but I have used the services of an independent midwife when I birthed my third child this year. I am what is called a VBACer. A woman who has had a Vaginal Birth After Caesarean, in fact after 2 caesareans. I employed an independent midwife to care for me at home while labouring before going to hospital to birth my baby where the independent midwife then acted as a birth support person. If I had have just used the hospital and my obstetricians current model of care I would have ended up being pushed into another caesarean section which was NOT MY CHOICE. So even though I did not have a homebirth I still needed the services of an independent midwife. If this legislation is passed, women like me who want to have a vaginal birth after caesarean will have a hard time achieving the birth we so badly want as it is not widley supported in the obstetric community. So how do we VBACing women get the birth we want when the independent midwives who support us need permission from the obstetricians and hospitals that generally discourage and sometimes flat out refuse to support our chosen birth prefrence?? I want to be able chose who I have to support the birth of my next baby. Not be told!!

Women’s rights matter. Please do not put the interests of medical industry $$$$ ahead of the rights of mothers and families

Where have the reproductive rights of women gone? What about the established legal concepts of right of refusal/informed consent?

Where to give birth, and who attends, is a medical decision appropriately decided upon by the mother or family, not big government and big medical associations.

If a pregnant woman is competent and informed, it is her decision to make.

Women should be able make decisions about their own care, rather than be forced to meet the needs of practitioners and organisational convenience which happens when giving birth in a hospital.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon plans to fund midwifery care under Medicare, something sorely needed. She has however excluded homebirth. She did this against all evidence and the express wishes of the women of Australia across two enquiries, one that broke a Senate record on the number of submissions received. This is not acting in the best interests of Australian society, this is acting for the best interests of the medical industry.

Denying independent midwives registration won't stop them from using their skills to support women during birth or from helping women birth at home. It will simply increase the risks they take doing so. It will be backyard abortion all over again – complete with shonky providers, death and suffering – except this time it's backyard birth.

Women need medical guidance, in the form of proper pre-natal care to know if home birth is a safe option for them. Professional, experienced, independent midwives can offer this advice, and a safe and secure environment for low-risk women who birth at home.

Will politicians continue to be more responsive to those with deep vested interest in maternity services? It is time to step up and listen to women, the very people for whom these so called reforms are proposed.

Homebirth or hospital birth, it is the woman’s choice not the government or the medical industry.