Birth Rights Rally in September: Who's Coming & Co-ordinators

I have posted this here in response to the media which has today leaked that it is infact going to be illegal for midwives to attend homebirths in 2010, risking a $30,000 fine if they do.

Law to stop midwives working outside hospitals | The Daily Telegraph - btw. please vote 'no' in that poll should homebirth be banned.


WE NEED YOUR HELP - WE NEED TO UNITE AND DO SOMETHING TRULY PASSIONATE AND BE HEARD!!!! WOMAN POWER ALL THE WAY....

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If you plan on attending please reply to this thread.

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Host: Homebirth Australia
Type: Causes - Rally
Date: Monday, September 7, 2009
Time: 11:30am - 2:30pm
Location: Parliament House, Canberra
City/Town: Canberra, Australia
Email: info@homebirthaustralia.org

HOME - EVERY WOMAN?S BIRTH RIGHT ? RALLY FOR HOMEBIRTH ? MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2009, PARLIAMENT HOUSE CANBERRA

Homebirth Australia is hosting a MAJOR rally in Canberra (outside Parliament House) on Monday September 7 from 11.30am.

There has been much discussion about the potential outlawing of homebirth and the continued lack of equity for women choosing homebirth.

We need this to be BIG. When I met with the federal department of Health they commented on the huge number of submissions (900 of which over half came from homebirth consumers). Sadly I said if you outlaw homebirth I will lead 9000 angry women and babies to Canberra!

Now 9000 may be a tall order but we need thousands.

For all the women and midwives that have contacted and said this issue matters please put it in your diary.

There is lots to organise and we look forward to many providing ideas and support.

The states close to Canberra will be called on to provide as many as possible to attend.

It would be great to have at least a few from every state and territory.

Please forward this meeting far and wide.

Details will soon be on the HBA website.

<www.homebirthaustralia.org/>

For any other info please email justine.caines@bigpond.com

In solidarity

Justine

Justine Caines
Secretary
Homebirth Australia Inc

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Come on families of Australia.... lets have an incredible day our, be passionate and soak in the power and awe of the incredible birthing women who will be there with us... let's get on a plan for one day, bring your children and shout loud... no-one should be forced to birth in hospital... there will be dire consequences...

VIC
NSW & ACT
QLD
SA, NT, TAS & WA

Should homebirths be banned?

AdelaideNow... Uninsured midwives face home birth ban

75% say no... let's make it more!!!

I'll be there with Charlotte.

I'm going to see what i can do!!! I definantly want to be there!

i want to be there! looks like i'll be talking DH into a diving holiday!

I am hoping I can make it :) I know so many ppl who are going, I would feel left out if I didn't at least give it a LOT of thought!

I'd love to be there, but will be nearly 33 weeks by then, so not sure about flying! If there's a rally in Victoria, I'll definitely make it. Homebirth had already been made so much more expensive than hospital, with private healthcare companies reluctant to pay, that I'm booked into a birth centre, but if I could have afforded it, it would have been the number one choice!

Is there anyone else in Victoria who'd like to stage a rally here? Anyone know an appropriate location?

Emma

Any chance we can organise some more rallies in major centres? I won't make it to Canberra with a tiny bub would would happily march down Swanston St :)

If you're on FB, then reply to the thread in there about it, otherwise:

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Jo Hunter wrote
at 1:31pm
For all those who can't make it. We are looking at organising a 'virtual rally' at the same time as the 'real rally'. Having everyone send in a head shot, their name, location and 25 words or less that you want the pollies to know. We will then stick the head shot onto preggo bellies with your words on the belly, attach it to a stick and shove them all in the ground out the front of Parliament House. We are just working on coordinating this with some help and we will probably need each person to pledge some money to cover the costs of this happening. our new website is very close to being launched and all info will be on there. Come back here regularly for updates though.

LETS MAKE THIS HUGE!!!!!

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I will either fly to Canberra or try and organise a rally at the same time on the Gold Coast (Whichever would be more productive).. We have to do something but I don't know where to start with organising something like this... If anyone has guidence to give on what to do just PM please...

I'm somewhat uncomfortable being a devils advocate here but reading the article and as a Registered Nurse and Paramedic, I feel I have to......

Under the draft Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, released last week, a midwife cannot be registered unless she has insurance.

Midwives as a group are consistently requesting to be independent practitioners and regarding as competent to contribute in that role. To practice for an employer, their insurance is meant to cover you. However, Nursing bodies recommend independent malpractice/indemnity insurance for all nurses. So really this isn't a new expectation.

But with insurance companies and the Government so far refusing to include home births in the indemnity scheme, midwives will face being de-registered if they attend a homebirth.

So the cause should be to force legislation for reasonable indemnity insurance.

"Even though only less than half a per cent of women have homebirths, they should have the same rights as a woman who chooses to have a caesarean. Home-births won't stop."

Caesareans aren't done at home last time I looked. Choice isn't the issue. Adequate financial coverage is. Every one is happy until something sadly goes wrong and a poor midwife is sent into financial ruin because of inadequate insurance covering legal action.

But from July 2010, they will no longer be able to call themselves midwives even though they are trained. Only those insured and registered can use the term midwife, otherwise they face a $30,000 fine

The terms Registered Nurse and Midwife are protected titles so that isn't new. Registration is one thing, insurance to practice outside and hospital again harps back to adequate affordable insurance.

"It breaks my heart to hear that the Government will do this," she said. "This is about choice.

It's about affordable insurance

"The Government should be driving this and helping midwives who want to (do) homebirths. They will never be able to afford insurance."

By allowing legislation to provide affordable and sufficient insurance.

Home Births Australia secretary Justine Caines said the new law took away the rights of women

Birthing is a collaboration. The new law hasn't even been passed, yet the wrong message has been sent.

The minister I have heard previously seem pretty supportive of midwives. To receive the outcome that allows them to practice supportively and independently is about affordability of insurance that safely covers their practice. That has to be the warcry. The aim is about protecting the public as much as protecting Midwifery Professionals.

Burying this amongst emotive rhetoric will have a negative effect. I appreciate the opportunity for home births having attended a few. I am also well aware of when things sadly go wrong and in a very big way. It is very easy for the happy partnership to disintegrate when clients look for an outcome legally.

I hope a successful outcome is reached for those who seek homebirths.

^^ Perhaps this is just baby brain but none of that made any sense to me. What I gather is that homebirthing midwives currently attend homebirths without insurance and under the new laws this will be illegal. So I don't see how this can NOT be about choice? Since it will remove the choice to have a homebirth??

This is just bizarre. In WA homebirths are government funded for crying out loud, now they're going to be illegal?! I wish so passionately I could afford to go to Canberra for this, hopefully we can organise a protest in WA and other states for those who can't go to Canberra.

I'd love to go... not sure about the logistics of me and Jazz making it down there but I love the "Virtual" idea... if they had a rally in Brisbane I would be down there in a heartbeat...

Stretcher_Bearer - Just wanted to say that I agree with your take on it, and congrats put being brave and putting them forward.

It seems to me that the home birth movement are absolutely sensationalising their campaign and putting around misinformation that home births will be 'illegal'. There is no proposal to outlaw home births under any law around the country.

As explained earlier, under the proposed legislation Midwives who attend home births will not be eligible for insurance. If they don't have insurance they won't be able to attend hospitals, use medicare benefits numbers etc.

In response to your comment Fionaw..

Quote: As explained earlier, under the proposed legislation Midwives who attend home births will not be eligible for insurance. If they don't have insurance they won't be able to attend hospitals, use medicare benefits numbers etc. End Quote:

Homebirth won't be illegal, in that you are correct. However if a private practising midwife attends a homebirth without insurance (which they cannot get due to the Govt not assisting them as they do Obstetricians and institution employed midwives) then they will be de-registered and a fine of up to $30000 can apply. Private practising Midwives don't attend hospital for birth and if they transfer with their birthing mother then their role reverts to that of a support person only anyway.

So yes, homebirth will not be illegal. We can homebirth but if we do we will have to do this unassisted without trained midwives thus removing our choice for a safe homebirth. I'm not interested in birthing at home unassisted and whilst I respect a womans choice to do just that I would also hope that my choice to birth assisted by a trained midwife with or without insurance in my home would also be respected.

Quote: It seems to me that the home birth movement are absolutely sensationalising their campaign and putting around misinformation that home births will be 'illegal'. There is no proposal to outlaw home births under any law around the country. End Quote:

There is no need for us to sensationalise this topic. Every man, woman and child should be concerned that our government is taking steps to remove our right to choose. It may be safe homebirthing now, but what happens when it's something that is close to your heart and your dream. Will it be so sensationalist then.

How about those of us who can't get to Canberra organize ralleys to coincide with the one outside Parlaiment house? We could make facebook event pages for it and everything.

As a separate comment to Stretcher Bearer

Quote: Burying this amongst emotive rhetoric will have a negative effect. I appreciate the opportunity for home births having attended a few. I am also well aware of when things sadly go wrong and in a very big way. It is very easy for the happy partnership to disintegrate when clients look for an outcome legally.

I hope a successful outcome is reached for those who seek homebirths. End Quote:

Thank you for your well wishes and I for one am afraid that you are right about this argument disintergrating in emotion but for the reasons of the "Us against them" argument. There is no reason to look at why a woman wants a homebirth and the argument of "why they want a homebirth" is not pertinent to the womans right to choose argument. Let's not get bogged down in "what is a better birth". A better birth is the one that the woman birthing the child is most comfortable with.. Whatever her reasons.

I'd be interested in a Convoy to Canberra. I'll arrange the time off work and tell DH.