I received this from my lovely friend and Colleague Honey. It feels a little odd to have all of this happen when my every day life continues as always, lots of antenatal and post natal visits and two births this week. I sometimes have to shake my head and blink to believe it’s real.

Birthing with a homebirth midwife will be illegal from July next year due to new draft legislation and the move to a national registration scheme.

Now this email is not just for the homebirthers, whether you choose birth at home or hospital or have no interest in babies, this is about all women, men, and families standing up for our human rights to have a say over what we do with our bodies.

Some women will continue to birth at home but without the choice of a legal and skilled attendant. It will not be illegal for a woman to birth at home but she may face large fines if she asks a skilled person to attend her.

I have been studying and attending University for 5 years with the plan to be a homebirth midwife in my community – I will now be restricted and not able to practice in the full scope of a midwife as defined by the World Health Organisation, I could face fines of $30k and imprisonment if I were to ignore the laws and assist a woman. To say I am feeling devastated is an understatement, not just for me but for the women and families this will affect and because this is about human rights and our rights to self-determination and autonomy.

At this stage, there are possible solutions

1. Make changes to the draft legislation on the national registration of health professionals which allow midwives to provide care at home without insurance, until insurance can be secured. An insurance exemption for midwives.
2. Ensure that birth at home is included in the Government’s plans to provide midwives with Medicare, indemnity and access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. This would require some source of insurance covering homebirth to be found.

If we fix up one, it doesn’t matter which one, it would allow midwives who attend births at home to register and practice. If neither is fixed by the end of June 2010, then homebirth is effectively banned in Australia – not a prospect that any of us who believe in a woman’s right to make an informed choice would want. We only have 12 months to make this happen.

For more comments and info on the issues see

http://www.birthoptions.com.au/

http://viv.id.au/blog/20090625.5487/homebirth-to-become-illegal-in-a-year/

http://casmccullough.com/blog/?p=52

What can you do to help protect our human rights? Please even if it’s just one thing on this list or forwarding this email on to family and friends.

**You can send a letter (letters are much more effective than emails) to your federal MP, CC it to Nicola Roxon, and Senators, make an appointment to see your local federal MP and Senators. These meetings need to be before end of July. See birth options or homebirth Australia for more info on letters and petitions and meetings with Pollies.
To find senators see http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/Senators/homepages/index.asp
To find your local state and federal politician look on https://oevf.aec.gov.au/

http://apps.aec.gov.au/esearch/ address details on http://www.directory.gov.au/
Copy all letters to
Nicola Roxon
Minister For Health and Aging
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2601

**Attend the Rally at Parliament house on 7th September 11.30. Encourage everyone you know to send letters and come to Canberra and get them to bring their friends.

‘It’s a big ask, but we need as many people (mums, dads, grandparents, sisters, babies) as possible to travel to Canberra to show the people power. You don’t need to have had a homebirth or planning a homebirth to attend – you simply need to support the principle that women can make informed choices about the type of evidence-based birth care they want. http://www.homebirthaustralia.org/

**Can’t come to the September Rally? Want to be there not just in spirit?
Why not support us with a cut out to be placed amongst those attending.
Purchase a $25 “Virtual Rally Ticket”. Send a copy of your receipt along with a headshot photo and any message to:
campaign@homebirthaustralia.org
(Please limit your message to 25 words as someone needs to transcribe them!). Virtual attendees will make a difference.

*Sign the petition at http://www.birthoptions.com.au/

*Send a short email to GetUP campaigns@getup.org.au to make it one of their campaigns see http://www.getup.org.au/about/faq/#11

*You can send comments by email re the new draft legislation details below
GUIDE TO THE EXPOSURE DRAFT OF THE HEALTH PRACTITIONER REGULATION NATIONAL LAW 2009
http://www.nhwt.gov.au/documents/National%20Registration%20and%20Accreditation/Guide%20to%20Bill%20B.pdf
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law
http://www.nhwt.gov.au/documents/National%20Registration%20and%20Accreditation/Exposure%20draft%20of%20Health%20Practitioner%20Regulation%20National%20Law%202009%20(Bill%20B).pdf

If you wish to provide comments on the exposure draft of the Bill, please lodge a written submission in electronic form, marked Exposure draft, at nraip@dhs.vic.gov.au by close of business on Friday, 17 July 2009. Please note that your submission will be placed on the website after the closing date for all submissions unless you indicate otherwise.

“101 Conditions of registration
(1) If a National Board decides to register a person in the health profession for which the Board is established, the registration is subject to the following conditions:
(a) for a registered health practitioner other than a health practitioner who holds non-practising registration:
(i) that the registered health practitioner must complete the continuing professional development program required by the National Board, and
(ii) that the registered health practitioner must not practise the health profession unless professional indemnity insurance arrangements are in force in relation to the practitioner’s practice of the profession,

Quote:
Subdivision 6 General
148 Directing or inciting unprofessional conduct or professional misconduct
(1) A person must not direct or incite a registered health practitioner to do anything, in the course of the practitioner’s practice of the health profession, that amounts to unprofessional conduct or professional misconduct.
Maximum penalty:
(a) in the case of an individual—$30,000, or
(b) in the case of a body corporate—$60,000. ”

See http://www.homebirthaustralia.org/ for more information

Thankyou for your time

Honey Acharya

I would like to add no matter where you are on September 7th from 11am Canberra time I would like you to consider ringing parliament house, please say that although you can’t be there you would like to let them know that you are not the silent masses. You can do this from anywhere in the world (as long as you remember the time difference of course!!) I would love to see all the lines busy and clogged up over the time of the rally.

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