Health Petitions

Sorry this petition has closed on 12/12/2009,
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Send Your Letter To The Federal Government Homebirth Committee!

Homebirth - Soon to be illegal?

Since 2001 midwives have been unable to purchase an indemnity insurance policy. This was due to global factors with the collapse of the insurance market after September 11 and a landmark obstetric birth injury case proving a payout of $11 million in 2002. Guild insurance was providing indemnity at the time and they made a straightforward economic decision. With just under 200 privately practising midwives paying approximately $800 per annum, there was simply not a large enough pool to fund a payout of the magnitude mentioned above. Medical Practitioners indemnity premiums were subsidised by the Howard Government and continue with over $900 million of tax-payers money has been spent to date. Homebirth midwives continue to be denied professional parity. Women choosing homebirth are treated as de-facto health consumers and are the only health consumers denied the protection of practitioner insurance. If as planned homebirth midwives are unable to practice, women seeking homebirth care will be unable to access a registered midwife.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has prepared draft legislation to establish a National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for all Health Professionals by July 2010. This body will require evidence of medical or professional indemnity insurance to secure registration. This presents a very serious threat to women who want to access homebirth with a midwife. To date the Government have made it clear that they do not intend to provide indemnity insurance to private practice homebirth midwives. As a result these midwives will be unable to register, hence making it illegal for them to attend homebirths. Homebirth Australia sees this as a breach of basic human rights and possibly a contravention of Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Please also read this SMH article...

For more information about the Homebirth issue please watch the video below.

Melbourne Homebirth Rally 4th August 2009
Here are some highlights from the rally. Around 400 people gathered outside MP Nicola Roxon's office in Maribyrnong Melbourne.

Visit www.homebirthaustralia.org for more info.

Please read the petition carefully adding or subtracting any of the text at your convenience.

Sign this petition by filling out the form below. We'll include your online signature in a petition report delivered to the Federal Committee on Homebirth. As this is an Australian petition, it is open only to Australian citizens and residents. (* Indicates required fields).

This petition was sponsored by the Alliance for Health Freedom

http://www.health-freedom.com.au

Please read the petition first carefully before you send it. Make sure you agree with the information and or any scientific data, adding or subtracting any of the text at your convenience.

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Please take action: Send your letter to the committee - home birth and midwifery should not be made illegal!

IMPORTANT FACTS YOU CAN INCLUDE/ADD IN YOUR SUBMISSION BELOW

How you as a woman and consumer or as a homebirth/continuity midwife was treated when interacting with obstetrics or the 'system'.

Your personal stories as a women/consumer or midwife when interacting with the system. This may have nothing to do with homebirth. It may be a hospital planned birth (and the reason you then chose homebirth!!). What we are wanting to demonstrate is that obstetrics and midwifery are so vastly different and there is no way obstetrics can 'oversee' midwifery.

Just mouse click in the letter/text area below and add your comments in the paragraphs or areas you think applicable. You may even wish to delete some text and add your own - feel free to do so.

Signatures received since launch day (December 2nd, 2009):

Petitions signed and sent so far: 920

Dear Committee Members, Women’s rights matter. Please do not put the interests of medical industry $$$$ ahead of the rights of mothers and families. By making homebirth midwifery illegal, Australia would be out of step with other countries such as Canada, New Zealand the U.K and The Netherlands, where women can access midwifery care and choose to give birth at home. Something that is considered a normal reasonable choice in the U.K, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and Canada is under threat of extinction in Australia. Where have the reproductive rights of women gone? What about the established legal concepts of right of refusal/informed consent? Where to give birth, and who attends, is a medical decision appropriately decided upon by the mother or family, not big government and big medical associations. If a pregnant woman is competent and informed, it is her decision to make. Australian law allows patients to choose who will treat them and where, and even to refuse interventions – like transfusions – that medicos deem life-saving. This means that even if evidence showed that hospital births were life-saving, pregnant women could still refuse them. Given that the evidence shows no such thing, this right seems even stronger. A recent article in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology looked at 529,688 cases and found no difference in the health of babies born at home to low-risk women and those born in hospital. Another large study found that the only difference in outcomes favoured home birth, which produced babies with higher Apgar scores, and showed home births were less likely than hospital births to result in unnecessary and risky medical interventions, such as induced and augmented labour, forceps delivery and caesarean sections. Maternity care is the largest volume area of health. There has been a growth in women seeking homebirth care, sadly many women are refugees of the dysfunctional and sometimes dangerous hospital system. Our maternity hospitals are full to the brim, many of them churning women out conveyor belt style and yet this is considered safe? Mainstream Australian maternity care is not about women, women are rarely consulted in the development of services, they are the main player and yet they have been silenced by practitioners who insist they ‘know better’ and now the governmemnt is trying to silence women on behalf of this medical industry. Homebirth on the other hand is different. Women make decisions about their care, they invite a midwife into their home, rather than be forced to meet the needs of practitioners and organisational convenience which happens when giving birth in a hospital. The outcomes from homebirth are also considerably better. Women experience more personalised care and fewer interventions, they also enter motherhood happier and more content. Health Minister Nicola Roxon plans to fund midwifery care under Medicare, something sorely needed. She has however excluded homebirth. She did this against all evidence and the express wishes of the women of Australia across two enquiries, one that broke a Senate record on the number of submissions received. This is not acting in the best interests of Australian society, this is acting for the best interests of the medical industry. Denying independent midwives registration won't stop women from birthing at home. It will simply increase the risks they take doing so. It will be backyard abortion all over again – complete with shonky providers, death and suffering – except this time it's backyard birth. Women need medical guidance, in the form of proper pre-natal care to know if home birth is a safe option for them. Professional, experienced, independent midwives can offer this advice, and a safe and secure environment for low-risk women who birth at home. Will politicians continue to be more responsive to those with deep vested interest in maternity services? It is time to step up and listen to women, the very people for whom these so called reforms are proposed.

Leaderboard of top petition supporters:

See all Friend Point scores: (click here to check your score)

7 friend points - Orla S of Melbourne, Australia

6 friend points - Olivia W of Perth, Australia

6 friend points - Brooke G of Melbourne, Australia

4 friend points - Nick F of Mollymook
http://www.WakeUpToTheLies.com

3 friend points - Michele F of Brisbane

Please Do Not Make Homebirth Illegal

Send Your Letter To The Federal Government Homebirth Committee!

Please take action: Send your letter to the committee - home birth and midwifery should not be made illegal!

Leaderboard of top petition supporters: