04/11/2025
The recent death of influencer Stacey Hatfield shortly after the birth of her baby has been plastered all over the media and has shed a negative light on doulas and the choices women are making around birth. My sincere condolences go out to her family and loved ones.
Every loss of a mother or baby in childbirth is devastating, and it
happens sadly and unexpectedly wherever women choose to give birth.
This is my response to the loud calls in the last few days from RANZCOG and ACM, to regulate or even ban and/or criminalise birth doulas in response to this recent death. This entire focus on doulas is deeply concerning, and I believe it is a distraction from the real question here, which is - why do women choose to freebirth? Whether or not we agree with freebirth is beside the point, but we need to be asking why women do not want to enter the system.
It’s easy to blame doulas for the tragic cases of unassisted birth
gone wrong. However, we are missing the point.
Women don't choose freebirth on a whim; they choose freebirth because they don't have an alternative due to so few homebirth midwives, the out-of-pocket cost of a homebirth in Australia, lack of access to publicly funded homebirth, previous birth trauma from a hospital birth, lack of access to continuity of care with a Midwife and the fear of loosing control over their experience.
We now have one in three women in Australia who say their birth was traumatic, and a large proportion of those women have symptoms of PTSD. Having a baby should be one of the happiest, most profound and empowering experiences of a woman's life. Instead, we have some of the highest intervention rates in the world, including a ridiculous cesarean rate of around 41%.
Doulas are not the problem here.
Doulas are trained, non-clinical professionals who
provide information and resources, alongside emotional and physical support and care before, during and after the birth of a baby. We do not perform medical tasks, diagnose conditions OR replace a midwife or doctor. Evidence proves that continuity of care and support, like that provided by doulas, reduces interventions and improves birth satisfaction and outcomes overall for mothers and babies.
Our WTTF/DSS Doulas complete comprehensive Accredited training, and for over two decades, have worked under a code of conduct that stipulates our students and members will never knowingly attend a freebirth. We are operating within the scope of our much-needed and loved services.
With few women having access to continuity of midwifery care, we need doulas to fill that gap. Particularly in marginalised groups that are often dismissed and have obstetrics practised on them. Women are feeling unsafe, unheard, and are sick of the policies and procedures that are thrust upon them in the hospital system.
We are failing women, and targeting doulas will only push freebirthing even more underground and put more women and babies at risk.
The Government needs to spend some money and bring urgent change to the mess that is our maternity health care system. Women need to be listened to, respected and have access to good independent childbirth education, continuity of care with a midwife, and doulas need to be better respected for their part in a family's decision to include us on their journey to parenthood. We are not just there for labour and birth, but are an integral part of a major life transition and often spend years walking alongside families as they grow.
Regulation of Doulas in Australia is not the answer. No other country in the world has a regulated doula industry. Doulas are not to blame, and the women who choose freebirth are not to blame. The system is failing women and babies! And in doing so, it is failing families and the maternity care providers themselves.
This punishment, directed at doulas and women, is a witch hunt and a deflection of the bigger problems in our health care system.
In solidarity and strength
Renee x
