Dear supporters of birthing choice for women,
As most of you will be aware the Government has sought to amend the midwifery legislation before Parliament to force independent midwives to have “collaborative arrangements” with doctors before they are able to register and be eligible for Medicare and insurance support. The Australian Medical Association pushed heavily for this amendment. If the amendment goes ahead midwifery as we know it will be changed forever. This applies to any birth choice that might be provided through an self employed or private practice midwife. It means that it will be impossible to get true midwife-led care in Australia.
The good news is that the Greens have succeeded in referring the amendments to a senate inquiry. This provides an opportunity for the amendments to be closely scrutinised. The challenging news is that submissions to the inquiry are due by 11 December 2009. We know that this is a crazy time of the year and the deadline is a very tight one. However it is essential that we get as many submissions as possible to the inquiry. We need to equal (or preferably greatly exceed) the record number of submissions we made to the earlier senate inquiry. We must show the government that we are not giving up. We are asking you to make your own submission and to consider asking your partner, friends and family members to also write a submission. At the last inquiry over 2000 submissions were received. Let’s break this record! The senate prefers to receive submissions electronically as an attachment –
community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au – otherwise by fax (02 6277 5829). Maternity Coalition would also welcome receiving a copy of your submission so we can use examples when presenting at the senate. Contact us at
campaign@maternitycoalition.org.au
Please consider doing this, it is vitally important for the future of our choices in maternity care.
What do I write?
Some general points to raise are:
The amendments remove choice for women and will make it impossible for a woman to choose private practice midwife led care in Australia.
The amendments put doctors rather than women at the centre of maternity care.
The amendment puts the ability of midwives to practice in the hands of doctors rather than an independent registration and licensing body.
The AMA and Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists do not support homebirth and it is unrealistic to expect that members of these organisations will readily enter into collaborative arrangements with midwives providing women with this choice;
The amendments will have a greater impact on women living in rural areas.
Ask that a woman’s right to choose self employed midwives for maternity care be respected and not restricted as a result of the amendment.
What sort of care (public, private, midwifery) did you choose for your pregnancy, labour, birth and postnatal care? Why did you choose this type of care?
Did you feel your choices were respected when interacting with doctors, midwives, hospitals?
Who should control your ability to access Medicare rebates for midwifery care?
What has good collaboration between doctors and midwives meant to you?
Your submission does not have to be long; it just needs to illustrate your personal views and experiences.
Telling your individual story is the most important thing you can do. Demonstrate that private practice midwives are trained and competent caregivers who should not be under the control of doctors. Show just what happens when doctors are in control of pregnancy and birth.
If you have experienced independent midwifery care – Detail why you chose a midwife for your care and provide an overview of the care you have received. Discuss how your midwife worked with other medical professionals during your pregnancy and birth (positive stories about what midwives are already doing are important as are those that show the failure of doctors to willingly collaborate with midwives). If you have struggled to find supportive GPs or faced resistance from other medical professionals you should share this (as it goes to the heart of whether the amended legislation is workable). Highlight the differences between your pregnancies and births if you have used different models of care.
You can find the terms of reference for the inquiry and copies of the Bills here:
Parliament of Australia: Senate: Committees: Community Affairs: Inquiry into Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 and two related Bills
Please find below two documents that may help you further. The MC briefing paper on the problems arising from the Government’s amendments and a document that helps you get started with the formalities for making a submission so that you can just get on with the writing.
Thank you for your support,
Regards,
Lisa Metcalfe
President
Maternity Coalition
http://www.maternitycoalition.org.au
