Hi Trish, Thought I needed to add more to my response last night. You state that the USA midwives have managed to create a system which works ie has a formal method of recognising competence - yes, this has happened to a point. Firstly they are then still at the whim of the regulatory bodies of the 50 odd states to accept the credentials - and this certainly has not happened in all states. (Could you imagine the QNC accepting such??) And, there are over 2000 midwives who have acquired their credentials this way. In Australia we don't have the numbers or the dollars to create such a situation - unless someone out there wants to fund us??
And perhaps the most important thing to add is that, in my opinion, with the increasing awareness and attempts to professionalise midwifery, we have inadvertently set up greater controls on our independently practising midwives. Look at where we all are now - half (?) the IPM's have ceased practice because of the PI dilemma. But more than that is the power wielding by those who are so fully believing in the medicalised system of childbirth that they desire no partnership, have no room for any dialogue with any woman or her advocate about our basic right to give birth without intervention, our basic right to be fully informed and make educated decisions. In over 20 years within and around the homebirth movement in Australia, I have not seen such a tightening of control coupled with an even lessening ability to dialogue with the women who are choosing homebirth services. Jan Tritten in the latest Midwifery Today editorial called Professional? (Autumn 2001 No 59 pp2,29) says "that (independent) spirit (in the USA) is already at work now to create another lay midwifery movement, as we are being co-opted very slowly into the medical culture." She goes on to say "Our job as midwives is to 'first do no harm'. We are the guardians of normal birth. Our conversations should be centred on women, not on our 'profession' Midwifery must not be self-serving. It must serve families." I fail to see how removing one of the most active homebirth midwives in Australia (and one of the most experienced now) who has done no harm to the women she serves can be seen as anything more than a wielding of power and control without dialogue with the community she serves. Sue Cookson -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
