Rudd maternity plan dictates women's birth choices

"Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should not be dictating to women how they can give birth," Ms Rhiannon said.

"The federal government has bowed to the pressure of doctor interest groups that have shown no interest in reducing an interventionist approach to maternity care.

"Women are deservedly angry with Kevin Rudd for bowing to the doctor's agenda and daring to dictate how and when women can give birth.

"It is a disgrace that Australian women can choose to have a caesarean but not a homebirth.

"The government's amendments to the midwives legislation give doctors too much control over midwives practice.

"Greens Senator and national health spokesperson Rachel Siewert has opposed the Midwives Bills. She moved a Minority Report to the Senate Inquiry into this issue to highlight women's right to chose to give birth outside the hospital system.

"If the government pushes ahead with its planned amendments homebirth will be hard hit as midwives would no longer gain access to Medicare, the pharmaceutical benefits scheme or insurance coverage without entering into an arrangement with a doctor.

"Many Australian women who choose to give birth outside the hospital system will now be denied the right to choose primary midwifery care.

"Women who choose their own midwife at hospital or at home are being stripped of their basic rights to informed consent. They are being forced to give a doctor the final say in their care.

“The AMA has unduly influenced the government’s decision by making exaggerated claims about the relative safety of planned home births, which actually compare favourably with planned hospital births. 

"Several inquiries have generated thousands of submissions from women demanding their right to self-determination in their maternity health care, but their voices are falling on deaf ears.

"Women should have the final say in their childbirth choices," Ms Rhiannon said.
 

For more information:  Lee Rhiannon - 9230 3551, 0427 861 568.