Many will know that Homebirth Australia, Australian Private Midwives Association, Maternity Coalition and ACM met in person with Nicola Roxon in Canberra yesterday.
The meeting was a good first step the Minister acknowledged the unlawfulness of homebirth (don’t laugh senior ALP members have been convinced in recent times that it won’t be unlawful and remember the Dept of Health’s take at the Senate Inquiry).
Homebirth Access Sydney representatives met this morning with the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon. Also invited to the meeting were Homebirth Australia, Australian Private Midwives Association, Maternity Coalition, the Australian College of Midwives and independent midwife Robyn Thompson from Victoria.
Six Senators, three parties and nearly 2000 members of the public expressed their support for women’s right to choice in birth care, in today’s Senate Committee Report.
The Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee today reported on their inquiry into the “Medicare for midwives” Bills, currently before Commonwealth Parliament. Although the Report is divided into majority, minority and dissenting reports, all reports recognise the benefits to women from granting Medicare for midwifery services, and the need for women to have access to homebirth care with a registered midwife.
THIS STATEMENT CALLS FOR A FEW COMMENTS:
Firstly, let’s get our numbers correct. The most recent published data from the Department of Human Services, the same Department that published this press release, reveal that 253 women gave birth at home in 2007. For more detail on these births, click here. (Where did 166 come from?) The number of midwife-attended homebirths in Victoria has been increasing each year, and it has been more than 166 since 2004, when 181 homebirths were recorded.
Dr Barbara Vernon of the Australian College of Midwives talks about the proposed maternity care reforms and the impact they may have on homebirths.
Last week a New South Wales Coroner urged federal and state health ministers to take ‘great care’ in drafting legislation to reform Australia’s maternity services.
The fear is that the proposed changes will make home births illegal in Australia after July 1 next year. And if that happens, home birthing services will go ‘underground’.
The intersection of the Commonwealth legislation to regulate and accredit all health professionals and that of Medicare access for Midwives will eliminate the ability for a woman to contract a private registered midwife providing homebirth. This is due to an inability to secure professional indemnity insurance and an unwillingness by Minister Roxon to provide homebirth midwives with the same protection as all other health professionals.
Today is a landmark day for Australia’s nurses and midwives, with the introduction of legislation that will give them access to the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for the first time. These changes will provide all Australians with greater choice about their healthcare via improved access to the skilled services of our nurses and midwives.
Less than 6 weeks after the Federal Budget, Heath Minister Nicola Roxon has today introduced the first bills to legislate giving women access to Medicare funding for expert midwifery care.
“This is historic legislation for childbearing women and their families” said Dr Barbara Vernon, Executive Officer of the Australian College of Midwives. “The ACM commends Roxon for her leadership in taking evidence based steps to enhance women’s choices in maternity care.”
Where we are - the good and the bad of Nicola Roxon’s bills relating to maternity care
Australian College of Midwives press release 24 June 2009