It is planned to make it illegal for people to provide birth services in South Australia unless they are a registered midwife or medical practitioner.
The legislative change is a response to recommendations of a coronial inquiry into the deaths of three newborns in homebirths between 2007 and 2011.
SA Health Minister Jack Snelling said people who offered themselves as midwives without registration could face a fine of up to $ 30,000 or up to a year in prison.
“This Government won’t compromise when it comes to the safety of mothers and their babies and what the current legislation doesn’t prevent is someone doing what a midwife would do at a birth, even though that person is not a doctor or a registered midwife,” he said.
“This will limit potential harm that could come from someone who may not have appropriate training and qualifications to provide these services.”
Mr Snelling said registered practitioners had to provide women with accurate information on birth risks to ensure they could make an informed decision about their care.
“This is not about denying women a choice about where they give birth. It is a way to guarantee that whether a woman chooses to deliver in a hospital or at home, they are provided with safe and appropriate care by a registered, qualified professional,” he said.
Birth emergencies exemption
Mr Snelling said changes would not affect anyone who gave a pregnant woman assistance during a birth emergency.
“Of course there will be provisions in the legislation for emergency situations, police, ambulance officers even taxi drivers will be protected obviously in an emergency situation,” he said.
Mr Snelling said SA had been hoping for a national framework but decided not to wait.
“It was going to take, you know, potentially years to get national agreement on this issue so South Australia’s now going it alone,” he said.
“Of course there’ll be issues with people shifting over state borders, it would have been better if this had been done at a national level and my predecessor John Hill tried to advance this at a national level, but it became quite clear that that was simply going to take too long and, as you say, babies and their mothers would be being put at risk.”
Nursing and Midwifery Federation official Elizabeth Dabars said the current legal gap needed to be plugged.
“Regulation really is essential to ensure people meet appropriate educational, practice, conduct and ethical standards and we believe regulation is in fact absolutely essential for those reasons,” she said.
The Government is hopeful its changes can be in force by the end of the year.
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