East Sussex, England — Launching on Youtube on Monday, December 17, ‘Freedom For Birth’ is an abridged 15 minute version of the full-length campaigning documentary made by British filmmaking couple, Toni Harman and Alex Wakeford as part of their “One World Birth” global film project.

‘Freedom For Birth’ features academics, doctors, midwives and Human Rights lawyers calling for all women to be afforded real choice as to where and how they give birth and for those choices to be respected by all care providers.

Toni Harman, the film’s co-Director, says, “We were inspired to make the film after the difficult birth of our daughter five years ago where a cascade of medical interventions culminated in a caesarean. As parents in the hospital delivery room, we felt shut out of the decision-making process. We felt we weren’t offered any real choice. When we started making Freedom For Birth, we discovered that the right to choose the circumstances of where and how a woman gives birth has recently been recognised by the European Court of Human Rights (Ternovszky vs Hungary no. 67545/09 14 December 2010) and yet, women’s rights in childbirth are routinely being violated not just in Europe, but in many countries around the world.”

‘Freedom For Birth’ highlights how, in some countries today, women who want to have a normal vaginal birth are sometimes forced by judges to have c-sections and some are threatened with having their baby taken away by child welfare services if they refuse to sign the consent form. In some countries, if a woman wants to have a home birth supported by a midwife, those midwives face criminal prosecution. Some midwives like Ágnes Gereb in Hungary have even been imprisoned.

Hermine Hayes-Klein, US lawyer and organiser of the Human Rights in Childbirth conference held at the Hague earlier this year, says, “Too many birth professionals are labouring under the illusion that a woman can be told what to do and that her job is to do what she’s told. When a birthing woman doesn’t do what she is told, but instead asks for the information necessary to make a decision appropriate for her and her baby, these providers assert that she is suddenly in conflict with her unborn child and use this false conflict to justify coercion and force.”

The full-length (58 minute) ‘Freedom For Birth’ documentary launched on September 20, 2012 with over 1,000 simultaneous screenings held in 50 countries in 17 different languages including screenings hosted by the Royal College of Midwives in London, the Museum of Motherhood in New York and Yale University.

Alex Wakeford, the film’s other co-Director says, “We estimate that 100,000 people saw the film on the launch day. It prompted many to set up local action groups and create petitions. But what if, through the release of a free short web version of our film, we could take this even further? We want as many people as possible to see the film so that they become aware of their rights in birth. The next step is to connect individuals who feel disenfranchised, who feel passionate about this issue but who feel their voice isn’t being heard. What if we could connect all these voices together into one loud powerful voice to help bring about change? Suddenly, this is more than just a campaign, this has the potential to be a global revolution”.

Hermine Hayes-Klein adds, “‘Freedom For Birth’ has been embraced around the world as more than a documentary, but as a conversation about the issues of universal and fundamental concern to birthing women everywhere, a conversation that everybody can join. The film has literally gathered individuals into regional groups and regional groups into a global movement”.

The online campaign is being launched on the “One World Birth” web site and on YouTube on Monday, December 17 2012. For more information, visit http://oneworldbirth.net.

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Catholic hospitals in Australia recently apologized for forced adoptions that took place in Australia decades ago.

Thousands of children were taken away from their unmarried mothers and were given to other married couples. The practice of adopting out newborns to other families was common from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Martin Laverty, the Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Health Australia has apologized for the forced adoptions that took place in Australia’s Catholic hospitals in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

The apology was calculated to “speed up the federal government into action,” said Laverty, as he apologized for the forced adoptions. He continued to say that there is a need to create a national program in order to help all the mothers and children who were harmed by forced adoptions.

In a report by CatholicCulture.org, Laverty also said, “we now know that there were many hospitals across Australia.”According to calculations, more than 150,000 Australian babies were separated from their mothers.Laverty expressed his sadness and referred to this period as a “shameful and regretful time” in Australia’s healthcare history.

“It’s with a deep sense of regret, a deep sense of sorrow that practices of the past have caused ongoing pain, suffering and grief to these women, these brave women in Newcastle but also women around Australia,” he said.

The apology comes in the wake of an Australian Broadcasting Corporation investigation into claims of abuse and trauma in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Due to the importance of the issue, Laverty made a written submission for a national inquiry into what role the federal government had in such adoption policies. The chief executive officer said that the federal government should establish a national program funded by state governments, which have primary responsibility for Australia’s adoption laws.

The program should help to establish “a fund for remedying established wrongs” in addition to help all the families reunite by finding the medical records.

In the words of a psychiatrist who has been treating some of the women affected told the program, it seems as though this had happened in a “totalitarian country somewhere hundreds of years ago.” But these forced adoptions happened only 30 to 40 years ago and will stigmatize Australia’s history.

There are many testimonies from mothers who lost their children from the 1950s to 1970s. The unease and the pain are so strong for all victims and the trauma won’t be easily healed.

Sixteen-year old, Juliette Clough, lost her baby boy shortly after his birth in a Catholic-run hospital in Newcastle in 1970. She still remembers her ankles being strapped to the bed and being gassed.

She said, “they just snatched away the baby” according to an Australian Associated Press report in the Sydney Morning Herald. She wasn’t allowed to see him, hug him or touch him.

“It was just like a piece of my soul had died, and it’s still dead,” Clough said.

She thinks about her son constantly. He would be 42 years old now and she wonders what his life is like, whether he has children and a family and if she has grandchildren. Clough has made a statement for a Senate inquiry into forced adoptions.

The enquiry, officially titled the “Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices”, was set up late last year and was due to report at the end of June 2011 but, because of “the large volume of evidence and the complexity of issues”, this has now been extended until 21 November 2011. The Community Affairs References Committee said in the meantime they will “continue to welcome evidence from new submitters”.

As Laverty said, he and his organization learned about the women’s experiences for first time this June. In a submission to the committee of inquiry he said they were “genuinely sorry” for the “pain that arises from practices of the past.”

Clough, although she has married and given birth again says that the traumatic experience marked her in a strong way. The memories from her first baby taken from her have prevented her bonding properly with her other children.

She suffers from depression and she finds it very difficult to be the mother she wanted to be. There are many more stories like Clough’s. It will take time until everything will be in the public eye.

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