i was looking at some of the comments on a US site after an article on the Vic woman who died after having her baby at home (i know, i know- i don't know why i did it either ), and it got my thinking about what makes someone an advocate.

Some of the articles have described the woman as a homebirth advocate and said that she wrote a submission in support of midwife funding and legal protection. Ok, so i also wrote a submission last year- does this mean i would be described as an advocate. Is writing a letter in support of something enough to call someone an advocate? What about if you never spoke out publicly but had a homebirth, supported friends to homebirth ... would the media describe you as an advocate then?

i think what annoys me most is that some of the reports have used 'homebirth advocate' in a way that infers that due to the advocacy, the person was unable to think rationally or make appropriate decisions. Getting annoyed is stupid cos i know that these people would never understand or support homebirth anyway, but i dislike the attitude and that it has seemingly become ok to publicly comment and criticise when there is a family who have just lost their mother, wife, daughter.