Barrister to lead childbirth debate

A human rights barrister from the UK will open a conference tackling the legal issues facing women at childbirth in Sydney this Friday (12 October).

Digital • 10 October 2012 • The Bar

A human rights barrister from the UK will open a conference tackling the legal issues facing women at childbirth this Friday (12 October).

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Elizabeth Prochaska (pictured) will be a keynote speaker at the Childbirth and Law Forum to be held in Parramatta. Prochaska is launching Birthrights, an organisation devoted to protecting and promoting human rights in childbirth, this year. She regularly advises women and health professionals in this area.

“Human rights law has a very valuable role to play in improving maternity services around the world, both by promoting women’s autonomy and dignity and protecting midwives’ right to practice their profession autonomously,” she said.

Hosted by the Australian College of Midwives, Maternity Coalition and Homebirth Australia, the event will also feature Dr John Seymour, adjunct professor in the ANU College of Law, who acted as the Commissioner in Charge of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s inquiry into child welfare law in the ACT.

Following the keynote presentations, panellists of women, doctors, midwives, lawyers and ethicists will discuss the role of regulation in protecting women, unborn babies and health professionals.

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“In bringing together a diverse group ... we hope to tackle some of the difficult issues in this area,” said Ann Catchlove, solicitor and national president of Maternity Coalition, a national consumer advocacy organisation focused on maternity care.

Writer and social commentator Catherine Deveny, who is also the conference MC, claimed that “there is a crisis in Australian birthing”.

“It is a medical, legal and ethical one ... women are being bullied, manipulated and lied to about their birthing options. It’s time for a rigorous discussion about the whole system.”

A screening of the new film Freedom for Birth and a Q&A with its directors in London, Alex and Toni Harman, will follow the panel discussions.

For more information on this event visit www.childbirthandthelaw.org

Sarah Sunday, 14 October 2012

An unborn child is a living being and must have rights irrespective whether the child is in the womb or out. Simply ignoring this is no different to ignoring the rights of the mother. The father of the unborn child must also be made privy and his rights also exercised in the decision making processes where the unborn child is concerned.

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Beverley Walker Thursday, 11 October 2012

Well done and about time hope this production gets lots of media coverage. I feel I have put in my spade's worth and I sit back and watch with pride the refusal of strong young and older women to give up in the fight to prevent what after all is a travesty of birth practices. Womens health and the future of our children's rights to a flourishing life is being compromised daily in the walls of hospitals world wide. Get them out of there, I say and start a movement to conserve womens rights to be with women and conduct womens businesa - the business of producing healthy flourishing future women and men of the world.There in lies the answer the to the planet's woes as it is used and abused for the sake of a quick buck - get the dollar out of the way and you have a healthy future. 

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