Marsden Wagner writes in "Fish Can't See Water - the need to humanise birth in Australia" that careproviders "believe the evidence of their eyes".
There are two basic models: the Obstetric Model, which says a birth is only normal in retrospect; and the Midwifery Model, which supports natural birth and assumes health and normality until there is a solid reason to believe otherwise. One is about risk management (particularly financial and legal risk) the other is about keeping birth normal.
Many midwives working in the Obstetric Hospitals are working under the Obstetric Model. They might be midwives, but that doesn't mean they're able to practice the Midwifery Model. They might believe in the Midwifery Model, and wish they could offer it - but they are working under Obstetric hierarchies and protocols. Midwives in Birth Centres can offer the Midwifery Model of care to some degree, althought they are still restricted by Obstetric policies and protocols. Independent Midwives, who attend homebirths as well as support women birthing in hospitals, are actually able to practice the Midwifery Model of care. This model will soon become extremely rare and difficult for Australian women to access if they succeed in outlawing homebirth midwifery in July next year.
So that is why some midwives might believe that homebirth is not safe. If they have been trained in the obstetric system, and are essentially in a system where they have to function as obstetric nurses, their reality and perspective is going to be more similar to that of most obstetricians, than independent midwives. Like many obstetricians, they may have never actually seen a women give birth under her own power, without technical assistance. Therefore they may have trouble believing that a mother *can* give birth or that a baby can be born well and not need suctioning, oxygen, warming lights, examination, and wrapping up.
Here's a quote from Marsden Wagner's article - so true for Australia:
A liberated woman correctly strives not to be controlled by men, an effort even more difficult if she lives in a male chauvinist society. There are many ways in which women giving birth in hospitals in 'macho' cultures are oppressed and given the message that they are not important and not free but controlled by an often belligerent staff. But if a woman accepts the medicalised, male dominated obstetric model of care with its selected information, she gives up any chance to control her own body and make true choices. Volumes have been written about how liberating and empowering it is for a woman to give birth when she controls what happens. Without fully informed choice, she will give up any control and comply with the wishes of the doctors and hospitals. Women who demand choice but get only selected doctor-friendly information unwittingly buy into the medical position and call it feminism.
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