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4th
November 2003
20-Year Homebirth
Battle Ends Tomorrow
in Supreme Court
Tomorrow
will see the culmination of 20 years of consumer litigation, as
the Supreme Court decides whether or not home birth is to remain
an option for less well off women, or whether it will become a
choice reserved solely for the rich.
Sociologist
and health correspondent Marie O’Connor points out that the
Government’s decision to push through the Hanly agenda will
leave thousands of women around the country without access to
maternity care: “If consultant bodies succeed in closing
these maternity units, home birth will become a vital link in
the delivery of local services. Women cannot be expected to drive
for two hours in the height of labour”.
Home
birth parents, grandparents, babies born at home and midwives
will gather in the Round Hall and on the steps of the Four Courts
to hear the verdict on an appeal taken by four home birth mothers
in Dublin against the South-Western Area Health Board’s refusal
to give them a home birth ‘grant’. At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow
the issue of whether or not women are entitled to a free home
birth service from the State under the 1970 Health Act will be
decided.
The
home birth issue has been hotly debated in recent years, particularly
in Dublin. Parents making this choice see home as offering a safer
environment for a baby to be born into, away from the dangers
of “active [medical] management” in hospital, according
to the Home Birth Association. “Women choosing home birth
are putting safety first”, says Krysia Lynch-Rybaczuk, the
Association’s PRO. “We look forward to seeing women’s
right to a free home birth service from the State restored”.
Meanwhile
the National Birth Alliance says that choice in childbirth is
central to women’s human rights: “Consultant bodies
propose to close 8 or 9 maternity units around the country, yet
they refuse to allow midwives to run the services”, says
Philomena Canning, an independent midwife in the Dublin area.
For
further details, please call:
Home Birth Association
Krysia Lynch-Rybaczuk
Telephone: 01 660 3499
Mobile: 087 754 3751
Independent Midwife ERHA
Philomena Canning
Telephone: 01 495 1902
Mobile: 087 290 0017
National Birth Alliance
©
Marie
O’Connor
Telephone: 01 838 8168
Mobile: 087 918 2722
© National
Birth Alliance
An Chomhghuallaiocht Naisiunta Breithe
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