The Mother of All Rallies

There will be a rally today in Canberra. Briefly, it is about this -

Currently the House of Representatives is debating the Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 and two related bills to create Medicare funding, access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Indemnity insurance support for midwives. If passed into legislation in their current they will not provide funding or indemnity for homebirth midwives. This legislation will then intersect with National Health Registration legislation (to come into force in July next year) that will require all health professionals to hold indemnity insurance. This will prevent midwives providing homebirth care from registering and thus make their homebirth practice unlawful.

I'm not there because I doubt Trogdor's ability to tolerate the car trip and I foretell a massive burnination by the end of the day. I wish I were though.
Let's be clear here. This legislation won't stop homebirths from happening. All it will do is force homebirth underground (no, not giving birth in mines) (although...)
When I planned my homebirth for Trogdor (which didn't work out, as it happened) I had a trained midwife who brought with her - a Doppler to listen to Troggers heartbeat during labour; resus equipment in case Troggers wasn't breathing at birth; syntocin in case I hemorrhaged; sutures in case I tore; a birthpool because they are cool and a whole lot of other stuff. If I want a home birth next time guess what I get? Probably nothing. No midwife. No medical support. No right to push a baby out of my own body where ever I see fit with the support I feel I might need.
Let me put it this way. Did banning homosexuality, inter racial marriages or the practicing of different faiths (among others) prevent any of these things from happening? Nope. And whatever my personal opinions about those things I'm not going to support the government in effectively outlawing them.
Look, homebirth isn't for every one. I know that. Believe me, it was a hell of surprise when I realised it was what I wanted to do. I know that many women, despite the arguments in favour of a homebirth, would rather be at a hospital and I'm fine with that. I'm not going to turn up at your home as your labour starts to chain you to the bed and force you to listen to whale music. But don't force me to get into a car and go to a hospital during a normal labour.

For those with concerns about the safety of homebirth you might want to check out these links.