Carolyn,
Just a thought but something you may want to try. When I was trying to get the Birth Centre/midwifery care for Claire's birth I also contacted the Women's Legal Service to find out what the legal position of such policies were.
Anyway it came back that the hospitals could basically make any policies they wanted but they still have to be careful to be able to justify their policies so as not to break any of the federal legislation.
Given that (at the time anyway) there were still Birth Centres in Australia that would allow VBAC women the lawyer I spoke to seemed to think there would be a case for discrimination on the basis of disability.
The argument went like this:
A VBAC woman has a scar on her uterus and it is as a result of this scar that she is denied access to certain services. Thus she can be classified under the legislation as having an impairment.
Discrimination against a person, where such discrimination cannot be adequately justified is illegal under the Disability Discrimination Act. If there are other Birth Centres in Australia that will allow VBAC deliveries and the one for which you are seeking entry does not then there is a good chance that you can raise a discrimination case against that hospital on the basis of the Act.
I actually had letters from two other Birth Centres in Australia that said they would take VBAC women that I was going to use to place a claim of discrimination against RWH through HREOC (Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission). The lawyer also advised that a Ministerial could be entered for the discrimination claim (but I wasn't bothered with this as Wendy Edmonds office is about as useful as "tits on a bull" when it come to this sort of advocacy) or alternatively a private case could be raised but this would of course cost big dollars - so HREOC was going to be my only option.
As it turned out RWH offered me a suitable compromise before I had submitted any claims or statements - but it may be something your ladies who want to use the Birth Centre may wish to consider.
Debby
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