Human Rights Violations in Australia
The Australian Government is making decisions about women's bodies and choices without taking on board what women want. The recent Maternity Services Review completely discounted that OVER half of the submissions were asking for more homebirth options and availability in Australia. The outcome?
Publically funded homebirth is off the agenda. Legislation is being drafted which will require national registration for health professionals, and a condition of registration is professional indemnity insurance which is NOT available for midwives. Time to say bye byes to midwifery care and midwife attended homebirth. Time to say hello to jail time for midwives attending women at home unregistered and to $30,000 fines for women who dare ask a midwife to attend to them at home.
Screw you. I'll freebirth. Oh dear. Did you find that offensive? Good. Telling women that they have NO rights to decisions involving their own bodies is offensive and NOT ON. Telling women they are only allowed to birth in hospital where there are many risks and lack of choice/rights is NOT ON. This is just a small piece of the larger picture of women's history of oppression.
Purebirth Australia supports the TRUE model of midwifery care - continuous, in home care and low intervention homebirths with midwives in attendance.
We also support homebirth without midwives in attendance.
Our bodies. Our births. Our fuckin' decision.
Keep your laws off our bodies!!
7th September 2009. 11.30am. Parliament House, Canberra.
BE THERE! SHOW THE GOVERNMENT THIS IS NOT OKAY!
DIY Birth Warning
See what Purebirth Australia has to say about RANZCOG's warning regarding DIY Birth Websites.
Due to the large number of people out there who feel women are unable to think for themselves and need to be told what to do, we have made it a point to recommend AGAIN that EVERYONE read this website's policy statement and disclaimer at this link here. It is also available on every page of this website via the menu link and the large bold link at the top.
Informed Consent in Australia
You read right. This is not about informed choice, but informed consent. Other states & territories most likely will have something similar in place. In Queensland, patients may successfully argue they would have made a different decision if they had received more detailed explanations. Informed consent must include;
- an explanation of the general nature of the procedure and its probable effects
- the significant complications including the common and rare ones
- the advantages and disadvantages of alternative treatments
- the consequences of declining the procedure
The High Court of Australia has ruled that patients have the right to be informed of a material risk: "A risk is material if, in the particular case (a) a reasonable person in the patient's position, if warned of the risk, would be likely to attach significance to it; or (b) the doctor is, or should reasonably be aware that the particular patient, if warned of the risk, would be likely to attach significance to it."