These women deserve our support in their battle against the bureaucracy of the Rudd Labor government. Parents have the natural right to use midwives as they have for thousands of years.

The media is doing very well at reporting this side of the story opposing the official view of the medical establishment that all births should be in hospital. However the same media seems to regurgitate the official view about vaccinations (particularly swine flu) without question.

is the govt's responsibility to the babies at risk (who can't speak for themselves) or for the selfish hippies who want to run the gauntlet??

why would you not want to have every available 'safety net" as close as possible in case something goes wrong during the birth? doesn't make sense to me. dumb to the point of stupidity.

DAZ_ your ignorance saddens me. surely an elective c-section is "selfish" , depending on your perspective. the baby does not want to be drugged and torn from his mother. birth is NOT a gauntlet. but running the medical interventions of modern obstetrics- that is a gauntlet.

It's not at all a matter of "is homebirth safe" the evidence already supports it, why do you think the govt already runs homebirth programs out of it's hospitals. Running out of the Northern Women's in SA for the last 10 years....see there are things you just don't know and you are spouting untruths with your lack of knowledge! Birth just doesn't go wrong, there are always signs that a skilled midwife can detect and of course the mother herself. I think people like you need to understand the risks you put yourself at when you surrender to birthing in a hospital, because obviously you are unaware of the dangers that lurk.

because trente hospitals do not provide a saftey net for most women, they are full of unnessesary and harmful interventions to mother and baby. And evidence shows that home births are statistically equally as safe for first births and safer for consequent births than hospital births. daz, it is my hope that our government begins to speak up for the rights of babies to be born in love into their mothers hands away from the harm that can come to them in hospital.

Thankyou for your support Hilly. We will not go quietly or easily. It is our body, our baby, our safety. I chose to birth at home because after intensive reasearch, many discussions, and one hospital birth, I felt that me and my baby were MUCH safer at home with an independent midwife.

Well men, how you continue to drive the fear dimension that is engaged by men (&women that act like men) in powerful positions such as govt, churchs, faiths, doctors & drug companies in interfering with women's business. Why can't you be your woman's guardian of their scared place for birthing your child instead of beating your chests supporting laws to putting women in sterile environments, on their backs, legs in straps get the drugs into them and baby while obeying the administrator and listening to the special machine that goes bing (aka monty Python). From my observation, when women and their partners engage sound - evidence based knowledge from well rounded Child Birth / Parental Education models, these brilliant women do birth genius children free of unnecessary medical intervention and birth in a loving supportive environment. It's not about the hippies - the women's movement, it's about birthing choice and a choice that is made of freely. It is common sense that when the mum & dad are provided with sound advice they can make the appropriate decision as to what support they require and this includes the support of the medical model. Vote 1 Birth Choices.

As a staunch ALP voter I am for the first time considering voting elsewhere due to the government's stance around women's right to choice in birth. Do your readers believe that women should have the right to choice in birth? Most of the women I spoke to at the rally on Thrusday 18th, and I am a 72 year old grandmother of 7, told me that the reason they chose homebirth was because they wanted to feel safe. USA obstetrician Marsden Wagner tells women to get the "Hell out of Hospital" The legislation to be passed on Tuesday will not allow choice.