Petition to Allow Private Midwives to be Eligible for Professional Indemnity Insurance or to Be Exempt from Being Required to Enroll in PI

To have a homebirth was the best decision and experience i have ever had .

There needs to be some option for a safer homebirth.

Without the option of having a midwife attend home births there will probably be an increase in the number of women birthing at home unattended. Women should have the choice of birthing at home with a midwife in attendance as this is arguably the safest option for mother and baby in a low-risk pregnancy.

Thank YOU! I had a Homebirth and I hope all women that want homebirths can have one.

Where a woman births is a human right, having safe medical support in her choices is paramount. Having Midwives protected legally in providing this support is paramount.

Every woman should have the choice to give birth at the comfort of their own home by choosing a private midwife to support them during birth. Midwives are doing an incredible job and should get professional indemnity as any other midwife who works in a hospital. This is about the freedom of choice for a healthy woman to give birth where she feels comfortable>Home and be able to have the professional help required if needed. For the midwives it is about being recognised , respected and trusted for their competence. Actually the percentage of interventions are lower when a woman gives birth at home compare to a hospital.

Preventing a midwife from attending a homebirth effectively removes a woman's choice in where she births. This is a violation of human rights. Homebirth has been proven time and time again to be a safe and viable option for low risk pregnancies.

Without courageous homebirth midwives I don't believe I would have such deeply connected mothering that I see my grandchildren receive daily.

get your hand off our bodies. We need private midwives because NHS should be there for disasters not normal happy births...too many children getting stolen by the state also.

A woman should have the right to choose where to have her baby and if she chooses home then it's far safer to do it with a qualified midwife there rather than by yourself.

Like many women who have had homebirths, my choice was driven by a feeling that I was left out of the decision process regarding my care with a hospital birth. If midwives are unable to attend homebirths, many more women will choose to freebirth, possibly putting them in danger

I have had one hospital birth and one homebirth. I would never choose to birth in a hospital again, to birth well I need a midwife who understands me and knows me. In hospital midwives came and went as shifts changed, some had no respect for my choices or me. Home birth is a legitimate choice, and should be an option for Australian mums, as it is for mums in the UK, NZ etc. Australian policy is like something from the dark ages.

I sign this petition in the hope that we can remember the mothers who deserve a choice. Where is our freedom to choose!? Our bodies, our babies, our choice!

This is a serious and real issue that needs to be addressed so that midwives can practice to their full scope and role, and support women and families in their choices.

Let women choose

Crucial!!

Freedom of choice without fear or favour!

Women need not must have the exemption

To block a woman from achieving the birth she wants is a total loss of dignity on all sides involved!

I support the exemption option most. Insurance is a scam that we should consciously avoid.