Rally for public homebirth services

BY RUTH RATCLIFFE

DARWIN — On October 31, members of the Darwin Homebirth Group rallied to demand the provision of homebirth midwife services as part of the Northern Territory public hospital system.

In July, NT health minister Jane Aagaard announced that, because of the medical indemnity crisis, the government would no longer be able to provide a homebirth service as part of the public hospital system. She said the medical indemnity crisis has ruled out the government supporting midwives who assist home births.

Prior to this, public health midwives had been able to offer homebirth as a private service and the government had indicated that homebirth would soon be available in the public health system.

The rally heard from women who had given birth at home before Aagaard's decision, new mums who had been affected by the withdrawal of midwife services and who been unable to give birth at home, and other supporters of birthing choices.

In a leaflet distributed to the rally, the Homebirth Group stated: "We see birth as a natural and very special human event. Governments and hospitals should not have the right to dictate how and where women bring their babies into the world. Women and their partners should have the right to make informed decisions about the birth of their own child."

From Green Left Weekly, November 5, 2003.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 560