Media Release: Embargoed until 12:01am Monday 16 November 2009
Two young mothers go where Roxon fears to tread: A Report Card on local hospitals
Sydney NSW, 16 November 2009 Australian women are once more standing up for choice,
and this time they’re using cyberspace to do it. Last week, the Deputy Prime Minister
announced the My Schools website to provide parents with information about their
children’s schools around Australia and the My Child website to provide information about
the nation’s child care centres. Today, two Aussie mums are launching My Birth, a website
providing information about the birth services available to Australian women.
“Today two young mothers have done what the health professionals and the government
don’t seem able to do - they have given women easy access to statistics and information
about their local maternity services. The government has promised to make school data
transparent - now it is time to make hospital, doctor and midwife data transparent."
(Associate Professor Hannah Dahlen, Vice President, Australian College of Midwives)
what birth service to use, including the birth service statistics of their local hospital, such as
the percentage of births by caesarean or induction. Website founders Michelle Meares and
Jennifer Brown state, “Women have a right to know what to expect when they choose a care
provider and a place to birth their children. Sadly at present we are unable to provide the
statistics for all States and Territories as they are not publicly released. We call on the
Federal Government to release them for all Australian hospitals so women can make an
informed choice.”
(Justine Caines, maternity consumer advocate and mother of seven) "Maternity health
professionals (in particular doctors) receive huge sums of public money, for their work and
insurance subsidies, they must be required to furnish their statistics, otherwise what is
being hidden?"
The legislation currently before the Senate, the Medicare for Midwives Bill will significantly
restrict women’s access to independent midwives. These are care providers with a proven
record of improving outcomes for Australia’s mothers and babies. As has consistently
happened in the past, when choice becomes restricted, there are serious implications.
Australia stands at risk of becoming an archaic centre for maternity health compared to
other countries like the Netherlands, Canada and the UK. Decisions made by the Federal
Government today will affect the birth choices available to our children tomorrow. We as a
society do not want a union (the Australian Medical Association - AMA) having the ability to
decide where and with whom an Australian woman can give birth. Midwives are a highly
skilled profession in their own right with a significantly different set of skills to doctors and
they must be recognised as such here in Australia. The legislation before the Senate fails to
do this and instead provides doctors with more control over women's births. This, we
believe, is a recipe for soaring statistics in the wrong direction. The My Birth website clearly
shows why this is a very important women’s rights issue for all women of Australia today.
If Australian parents have the right to know the performance statistics of where their child
will be educated, then they must also have the right to know the statistics of where that
child is born, and what alternatives are available to them.
For media enquiries: Michelle Meares 0439 645 372 Jennifer Brown 0408 621 448
NEWS 
