Home Births Off The Menu

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday July 02, 2002 18:51 by Malatested - AFI ireaf at yahoo dot ie

Home Births Outrage!

Women in the North West have now been told that when they give birth, they no longer have the right to do so at home. The “right” to have a child outside of a hospital has always been a battle with the Authorities-who make pregnant women fill out dozens of pages of irrelevant
questions, and submit written applications before they decide whether they are suitable for a home birth...-and now the Health Board has reduced it’s staff (for home deliveries) to just one woman! As she is not permitted to attend a birth alone, and as the North West covers Donegal, Sligo, and Leitrim, women are now left in the unpleasant, and unexpected, situation of having to go to their nearest hospital, if they want some kind of midwife attendance. The nearest hospitalin many cases, including my own, is over 35 miles away. Will we take this lying down???!! I think not. (Report from a Sligo anarchist.)

From the pages of Resistance#13, regular monthly bulletin of the Anarchist Federation Ireland, now available in PDF at our website.