Birth Choices Rally

(ALP: Australian Labor Party/current political party in power in Australia)

On Thursday I was one of over 100 women, men and children rallying in Ballarat in the hope that Prime Minister Rudd might hear our voices while meeting there. Sadly Rudd was a no show, but for those who did make it to the rally it was a beautiful afternoon in the botanic gardens, children running free, and women sharing their birth stories and fears for the future of birth in Australia.

Justine Caines opened the speeches, sharing how far the movement has come. In particular I remember her mentioning that it wasn't so long ago that the very notion that midwives would be included in medicare was laughable to some, but in the last 12 months that has changed.

There quite a few speakers throughout the rally. The stand out speaker for me was Tami White, a mother who spoke about rights:

"I was left fearful that I would never have another child, or that if I did, my body would never be able to birth that child. My body had failed me.

In fact, my body had not failed me. The SYSTEM had failed me...

[snip]

Thank you for your time today. I will leave you with two final thoughts. The first: Human rights are only rights if everybody shares them. If only some people have particular ‘rights’, they’re not rights at all, but privileges. And, privileges can be taken away. Mine today....who’s tomorrow?

The 2nd is a quote from William Penn, a champion of democracy and a Utopian.

“Right is right, even if everybody is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everybody is for it.

Removing women’s rights to bodily autonomy is wrong, no matter how many people are in support of it."

You can read Tami's entire speech on Facebook: click here.

Another really great speech came from Shae, a mother who has had one traumatic hospital birth and two homebirths. She spoke with great passion, sharing that she found it utterly ridiculous that a politician should "tell me what I can and can't do with my vagina and my uterus!"

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