This is an outrage! The patriarchy are still wanting to control women's bodies! It has nothing to do with money and everything to do with the misogynist abusive obstetricians interfering in women's right to enjoy their life-giving power. Men will never be able to overcome their jealousy of this power, so they soil this beautiful event with their selfish efforts to control women. It is nothing short of abuse and women need to reclaim their right over their bodies. Tampons should be GST free too! If women ran the world there would be no war either! If men had babies they would get 6 years maternity leave on full pay too!

Actually villagemidwife, I have attended a homebirth which was just a quick birth with no problems.
However, as a midwife, I have also received one of these would-be homebirth labouring mothers at our local hospital who came screaming in having had no antenatal care from a doctor and very little from the homebirth midwife!

It was a very traumatic time for us all, trying to work out what was going on, and she ended up with a caesarian and a sick baby!

That lady was one of quite a few that I have dealt with.
The problem is that many of these women think they can do it all 'natural', including financially free, and don't think they need to have a midwife visit as often as they should.

They need to live close to a hospital with a good, quick ambulance service, which many Australian women do not!

When everything goes pair-shaped, they present at a hospital in a mess.
No doubt there are plenty of wonderful homebirths, as there are awful hospital births, however I can understand why the insurance would be more expensive for a homebirth.

If ya wan to give birth your own way so be it. Wats all the talk about.
The indigenous done that for so many thousand years.
Just disappear into the bushes and do it your way and don't interupt any body else. The trouble with you is you want the best of of both, with insurance thrown in.
You are making a pig of yourself, with your native overtones.

I am astounded by the ignorance of these comments, bar Village Midwife. Suz, you may be a midwife but you have no comprehension of indemnity insurance and risk profiles for obstetrics/midwifery. The Dept of Health recently revealed while under oath that claims in obstetrics are 1.1 per 1000 births. In New Zealand where 80% of women are cared for by a midwife (with a 10% homebirth rate) there have been 5 claims against midwives in 300,000 births. The difference between 5 and 330 is considerable. The problem is not cost, the premiums would be lower, the issue is the political power weilded by vested medical interest and the fact that Nicola Roxon puts their needs ahead of Australian women.

As taxpayers we all pay for maternity care and not just public care like some claim. Taxpayers pay for private obstetric care through the Medicare safety net and the 30% priv health insurance rebate. Private health insurance offers absolutely NO CHOICE in maternity care it is anti-competitive and very costly.

Australian homebirth midwives when insured had virtually no claims. Australia's largest claim in birth negligence was from an overdose of syntocinon that caused a hypertonic uterus and like cerebral palsy. Suz you would know that the use of synto is rife in the maternity system, despite it being a very powerful and potentially dangerous drug. The case cost $11M in damages alone. Where is the responsibility for Obstetricians to curb their practice? Homebirth midwives are so scrutinised and as such have exemplary practice. If only Obstetricians were party to the same level of scrutiny.

If you think maternity is of no interest to you, you may like to know that Obstetricians increased their fees by 300% in less than 5 years. 80% of their fees are funded by taxpayers, so is a BILLION DOLLARS in indemnity insurance premium support since 2002. So when you or a loved one are genuinely sick and are denied care or endure poor care from a broken health system, remember rich obstetricians are rorting BIGTIME taking money from areas of genuine need.

Sage Femme, maybe I don't really understand the insurance problems faced by midwives or obstetricians, but I have seen many births over the years (and delivered plenty myself) that have resulted in live babies and mothers only because of the intervention of obstetricians.

I am a staunch supporter of midwife-run births of course, but we also don't want to turn all women off the idea of problem births that will need intervention to have a good outcome.

What worries me is these militant midwives and other like-minded women surging towards the 'ideal natural birth' as the only successful outcome for the modern pregnant woman.

What of all the women who really won't be able to birth naturally or safely without medical intervention? Will they be feeling less of a woman or a failure for not striving for a homebirth at all costs?

Safety and a healthy outcome for both mother and baby should be paramount for all births- not just the wishes of the pregnant woman for a natural birth.
I am all for choice of birth methods, but only if
medical help is close by, and only if it is best for BOTH mother and baby.

I wanted home birth desperately, and, being classified 'low risk' - although never having given birth before - investigated the process.
My husband could not be persuaded, so I went drug-free in hospital. My baby deteriorated very quickly, and suddenly had to be extracted with forceps, and then resuscitated. I'm glad I had more than one qualified person attending my son's birth... and I'm grateful for the inhospital support for mums too. Adds up to better breast-feeding outcomes and much more rest for Mum! You don't have to take drugs just because you're in a hospital environment.