Right at this moment, as you are reading this, women all over the world are giving birth.  Some are doing it in high tech obstetric units, some are doing it in simple community hospitals, some are doing it with a war going on outside, some are doing it amidst poverty and squalor, some are doing it in a taxi or other vehicle, and some are doing it in the peace and comfort of their own home. 

You came from a woman. A woman who cried and groaned, sweated and panted, perhaps cursed or swore, screamed or yelled and worked harder than she'd ever worked in her life.   How she birthed you, would have had a profound impact on her life, her perception of herself as a woman and mother and her relationship with you and the rest of your family. The effect of a woman's birth experience carries over into other aspects of her life and also into the future.

 Giving birth can be one of the most momentous, life-changing occasions in a woman's life.  It's the moment when she crosses the thresh-hold between that of maiden and mother.  It's so much more than the physical act of pushing a baby out of her body. It's a rite of passage that deserves to be treated with dignity, care and respect from her community members. 

Poverty, ignorance and war can deny women the expertise they need to birth safely. 

Rigid government legislation can deny women the choice to birth where it is safe to do so.  

In Canberra this week, women are gathering from around Australia, to ask our government to give women the right to birth at home.  As is the situation in various states throughout the U.S., midwives in Australia cannot get insurance to offer home birth to their clients.

 Where a woman can receive one-on one continuous care from a qualified midwife, we see a wonderful combination of best practice in terms of expertise and quality of care, where a woman is treated with the dignity and respect that she deserves.

 Please support women, both in Australia and the U.S., in obtaining the fundamental right, to birth safely at home, if they so choose.  

Thank you! 

 Thanks also to Dierdrie Cullen for the beautiful images.