For months I have been writing about the Australian Government's move to outlaw midwife attended homebirth. For months bloggers like myself have been asking "what does the health minister mean when she keeps using this c word "collaboration" when she speaks of changing the maternity system?" And none of us are surprised to discover that "collaboration" in fact meant "death to independent midwifery" (or as I see it, death to Australian midwifery as midwives who work within institutions are little more than obstetric nurses on account of being bound to protocols and regulations).
This morning I was greeted with the following in an email sent to Australia's birth activist communities:
If you wish to continue trying in vain to get the Australian government to give a flying fuck about the rights of homebirthers you could check out the political party What Women Want and register as a member. But I understand if you'd prefer not to waste any more of your energy, the government have made it abundantly clear from the outset that they are here to fuck homebirthers over and they have the support of millions of ignorant voters and a very rich and powerful obstetric lobby group. So it looks like this time next year we'll be celebrating Freebirth Awareness Week instead.
Happy Fucking Homebirth Awareness Week, Australians.
This morning I was greeted with the following in an email sent to Australia's birth activist communities:
"We have just (and yes I mean in the last 24 hours) been advised that Nicola Roxon will put amendments to the midwifery legislation that will REQUIRE a midwife claiming Medicare to work WITH either an Obstetrician or GP. It is not work FOR (ie in their office) but it will be to demonstrate that you work WITH.Australia is making it official: midwives will belong to medical men and their institutions, serving women will become a distant second. The word "midwife" means "with-woman". There will be no such thing as a midwife allowed in this country thanks to Nicola Roxon, the Australian Medical Association (AMA), The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), and The National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (NASOG). Just another dark day in The Lucky Country....
As we all know this spells the end of midwifery practice as we know it, and IT IS THE ABSOLUTE END OF PRIVATE HOMEBIRTH."
If you wish to continue trying in vain to get the Australian government to give a flying fuck about the rights of homebirthers you could check out the political party What Women Want and register as a member. But I understand if you'd prefer not to waste any more of your energy, the government have made it abundantly clear from the outset that they are here to fuck homebirthers over and they have the support of millions of ignorant voters and a very rich and powerful obstetric lobby group. So it looks like this time next year we'll be celebrating Freebirth Awareness Week instead.
Happy Fucking Homebirth Awareness Week, Australians.
1 comments:
Hi there. I haven't commented before but I just wanted to say that, while I am gobsmacked and appalled at Roxon's decision to take this step, I'm not giving up. I won't be having any more bubbas but I will continue to fight for the right of other women to have a homebirth. Also, I'm not letting my darling midwife become a casualty! Don't get despondent. Stay positive.
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