"The birthing experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is fundamentally culturally different from that of non-Indigenous women. Birthing is and continues to be in some communities a cultural rite of passage where knowledge, practices and beliefs are transferred from older to younger women, identity and links are established to land and connections with country are shared and celebrated."
- Submission from Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association to Maternity Services Review, '09.
Catrina Felton-Busch, former Indigenous Studies Coordinator at MICRRH shares her own experiences and expresses her views on the topic in the following video.
We welcome discussion and comments on this topic.
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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Birthing on Country is an important issue for our Indigenous women. Unfortunately, for all women who reside in rural and remote areas the choice of giving birth within your own community is something that has not improved in decades. When I was born nearly 50 years ago my mother had to travel away weeks before my birth as a delivery within her local community was not an option. When I had my children 15 and 19 years ago I to had to leave my town and travel to a larger centre for the birth. Surely, it is time for the health care system to listen to women both Indigenous and Non Indigenous at this important time of their lives and support them to give birth in their own community surrounded by family and friends. I think it is timely that we look at the role of qualified midwives, widen their scope of practice, support them with adequate insurance and medicare reimbursement to give rural and remote women more choices around where they give birth.
ReplyDeleteI would think that culturally respectful and safe child birth are not mutually exclusive!
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