Proposed Changes to Homebirth in Australia with Fiona O’Shaughnessy

In this episode, Oni Blecher speaks with Fiona O'Shaughnessy. Fiona is a mum of 3, doula, childbirth educator, independent consumer representative for the Northern NSW LHD and a consumer advocate, representing the charity Hygieia Health. She's speaking to us today in her capacity working with Hygieia. 

Hygieia Health is dedicated to the sacred work of birth and the impact it has on the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of women, their families, and birth workers. They believe that “Peace on Earth begins at Birth,” as Jeanine Parvarti Baker so poignantly stated. As a non-profit organization with a charitable purpose of promoting the prevention and treatment of birth trauma, they strive to provide birth workers, obstetricians, midwives, and doulas with the knowledge and skills necessary to care for themselves and others, and to return birth to its rightful place as a profound rite of passage. Their mission is to support women on their journey to childbirth, ensuring that they receive safe and trauma-free birth services and support. They aim to raise awareness of the occurrence and consequences of birth trauma and provide women and birth workers with the tools and support they need to prepare for and experience a safe, positive birth.

Advocacy groups such as Hygieia Health, Homebirth Australia, Maternity choices Australia, and us here at PBB Media to name a few, spend a considerable amount of time translating some of these deeply rooted political stirrings or changes in to smaller bite sized information segments so that we can all come together in our united aim to ensure optimal freedom of choice in childbirth, however that may look for you.

You may have a relative, a friend, a neighbour who is interested to birth at home. You may know a midwifery student who has the aim to become a privately practicing midwife. Even if home birth is not on your radar, you may even just empathise with the right to choose a birth environment that feels safe and right. Advocacy groups do so much work, but lets not forget our own capacity to advocate for our fellow human beings, even if their choices look different to ours. The meaning of advocacy is ‘public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy’. 

We always welcome your feedback and thoughts. Leave us a review, rating, instagram comment or DM, or simply be in touch via email through hello@pbbmedia.org We have left some great links below in relation to information sources that Fi mentions throughout the interview.

Thanks for tuning in ! 

@hygieiahealthltd

@bumps_birth_and_beyond 

@homebirth_australia

@bornathomefilm

Survey link: 

https://tr.ee/pENQCpTihh 

Excerpt from Hygieia Health Instagram regarding proposed changes:

“You may have seen a video circulating yesterday where Senator @larissawaters asked the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer (CNMO) about proposed changes to insurance for homebirth during Senate Estimates - we’d like to thank Senator Waters for her questions.
If you're wondering what this all means, please keep reading.

We feel the collective anger, fear and in some cases hopelessness about this issue, understanding it's deeply rooted in the lived experiences of women and midwives who have had to fight for women’s rights in childbirth for decades.

What We Do Know: The Government will conduct a consultation process in the coming months, aiming to have details finalised by the end of the year.  The proposed insurance would only be available for midwives providing homebirth care to women with 'low risk' pregnancies. This could mean that midwives might not be legally able to provide homebirth services to women outside this definition.

Currently, the definition of ‘low risk’ and who defines it is yet to be determined. However, comments made by the CNMO suggest it could exclude women with common risk factors such as previous c-section, high BMI, gestational diabetes, lack of social support and more. The CNMO also stated that if women deemed ‘high risk’ still want a homebirth, they will need a consultation with an obstetrician to be told to give birth in a hospital. 

Our Goal: It’s not too late to influence this process and protect the choice to homebirth as a right for all women. HBA has been promised a seat at the table and we are pushing for this to be a public consultation.

Urgency: Women who will become pregnant from September onwards will be directly impacted, so we will reiterate the urgency of this throughout the consultation process.

Your Feedback Matters: We’ve put together a survey as a first step to gather your feedback so we can head into the consultation process and represent the needs of our community. 

Who Should fill out the Survey: • Have you had a homebirth previously? • Are you planning a homebirth? • Are you a homebirth midwife?

Take Action: Complete our survey (link above)