Contact: Media Spokesperson, Australian College of Midwives, Assoc Professor Hannah Dahlen 0407 643 943;
President, Australian College of Midwives, Professor Pat Brodie 0417544824
International study confirms the safety of homebirth as thousands prepare for rally to
demand access to homebirth in Australia
Thousands of women will descend on Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 7th September at 1130 am
to protest the potential for homebirth to become illegal by July 1st 2010, just as another international study
confirms the safety of homebirth for mothers and babies.
A large Canadian study published two days ago in the Canadian Medical Association Journal once again
confirms the safety of homebirth for low risk women attended by professional midwives in a system that
supports this option.
The study reports on the outcomes of nearly three thousand women who planned to give birth at home in
Canada compared to a matched group of low risk women who gave birth in hospital with the same group of
midwives that provided the home birth care. Another group of low risk women giving birth in hospital under
the care of doctors was also included.
There was no difference in the numbers of babies dying between the three groups but women in the
homebirth group were less likely to have interventions during their birth or to have poor health outcomes,
such as severe perineal trauma and haemorrhage. Infants of women giving birth at home were less likely to
need resuscitation following the birth or require admission to a neonatal intensive care.
In Canada, women can choose their place of birth and receive funding for midwifery support at home, unlike
in Australia. Midwives also have insurance and visiting rights to hospitals, unlike in Australia.
The Health Minister Nicola Roxon is commended for listening to Australian women during the recent
national review of maternity services and for acting on the evidence that women stand to benefit from
greater access to continuity of care by midwives, however, we continue to be concerned about the exclusion
by the Minister of homebirth in these major reforms.
National registration reforms being legislated for by state and territory governments will require all
midwives to have professional indemnity insurance from 1 July next year. Without access to professional
indemnity, homebirth midwives will be unable to renew their registration as a midwife. Midwives providing
home birth services have not had access to affordable professional indemnity insurance since 2002.
Roxon’s professional indemnity bill will support MBS eligible midwives to access affordable indemnity. But
the exclusion of care for women who labour and give birth at home is of grave concern. Unless a solution is
found we fear homebirth will be driven underground, with some women choosing to give birth at home with
unqualified attendants, or alone. In such a scenario it is inevitable that preventable injuries or deaths of both
mothers and babies may occur.
Research evidence, including this latest Canadian study, confirms that birth at home is a safe option for women
at low risk of complication, when attended by a competent midwife.
This situation needs urgent resolution. The safety of Australian mothers and babies depend on creating an
evidence-based, networked system of care for all women. Home birth will not go away – it is here to stay.
Media Release: Mother of all rallies
NEWS 
