11/06/2024
HOMEBIRTH UNDER THREAT!!
The government are looking to take control over who can and cannot have a homebirth. URGENT SURVERY!!!
Currently we have guidelines from our Midwifery college https://midwives.org.au/.../National-Midwifery-Guidelines... that identifies various health related issues in relation to a woman, and each of those issues are placed into a category. Depending on what issues an individual has it will determine whether an obstetric consultation is recommended or whether the midwife is to head care over to an obstetrician. At the moment the woman can still decide whether she wishes to follow that recommendation or not, and continue to have care by her private midwife (and any other practitioner she choses) and plan her birth at home. The changes are suggesting that if a woman has a category B or C condition eg. anxiety, >40yo, previous baby >4000g, 5th pregnancy or more, previous blood loss greater than 499mls at birth, Diet controlled gestational diabetes, previous caesarean and many more, then they are category B conditions & Category C is BMI >40, women declining to accept a blood transfusion, mother with a heart murmur. The list is long....... Some I think are reasonable to birth in hospital but at the end of the day it's about women being able to choose what they believe is right for them and their babies, and midwives being able to support them in that choice. The government are looking to introduce insurance and possibly funding around homebirth but it will come at a cost to womens choices. For the past 14yrs there hasn't been any malpractice insurance for homebirth, or any birth where a private midwife doesn't have admitting rights and we have continued to provide care under a legislation exemption. There has been no policy in Australia or Overseas for us to purchase in over 20years. There is a survey to complete and I strongly encourage you all to complete it. Share it far and wide. It looks like the government aren't going to put it out for public consultation so the more noise we can make the better chance we have of retaining choices. In 2010 I was part of the 'Mother of all Rallies' and there were 3000 of us on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra when the government tried to make Homebirth illegal and it was the voices from families that were the loudest and stopped them. They granted the exemption so we could continue to practice. We need another solution. PLEASE fill out the survey!!!! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNlT1WsatyuiqbXAAaVG5ZeNgFb3OC4ejdffRx_SXTnHdCaA/viewform?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3llTe0r2wudtTDMh0qn-ht34neflZCFCrJ_Q04PMKaTsEyZMjXibxDtwA_aem_AZCnkJZav9ytV9y5mAFhQiQubcm_Fj6jjVXF8SSYecGNKt2PAM7m1fER7asm53MpmFtSVFddVO37gpkbwWHBE0WP
