��TV & ACM Call on Health Ministers to End Freebirth Deaths

Monday 3 November 2025

In the wake of several recent tragedies linked to freebirth, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) and the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) have called upon Commonwealth and state and territory ministers for health to enact legislation consistent with the model adopted in South Australia under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) (Restricted Birthing Practices) Amendment Act 2013.

Freebirth is the intentional practice of giving birth without a registered healthcare professional, such as a midwife or doctor, present. It is different from a homebirth, which is a planned birth at home with a registered healthcare provider. The absence of appropriate clinical support during freebirth has led to preventable harm and loss of life.

The South Australian legislation defines “restricted birthing practice” as, an act that involves undertaking the care of a woman by managing the three stages (or any part of those stages) of labour or childbirth or of managing the third stage (the placenta) … only a registered midwife or medical practitioner (or a student under supervision) may perform such a practice.

Adopting this legislative model across jurisdictions would advance the safety of birthing women and people and their babies, enhance professional accountability, and clarify the roles and responsibilities of obstetricians, GP obstetricians and midwives.

What RANZCOG and ACM are asking of Ministers

Introduce and pass legislation which expressly restricts labour- and birth-management (including the three stages of labour, birth of the baby, and the third stage) to appropriately trained, registered practitioners (i.e. obstetricians/gynaecologists, GP obstetricians, and/or midwives).
Ensure that unlicensed or unregulated persons are prohibited by law from undertaking the management of labour and birth as defined in the legislation.
Harmonise regulatory frameworks across all states and territories to ensure women receive the same protections regardless of where they give birth in Australia.
Promote transparency, accountability and safety in birthing services.

While choice and model of care are important, such choice must operate within frameworks that ensure safety, quality and accountability. This proposed legislation would affirm that principle.

Dr Nisha Khot, RANZCOG President.

Dr Heather Waterfall, an O&G in regional South Australia, and Chair of the RANZCOG South Australia & Northern Territory Committee spoke of her experience, “Women and babies deserve safe, evidence-based care. By enshrining in law the requirement that birthing services be provided by registered professionals working to defined standards, we have elevated system-wide practice.”

ACM respects individual women’s right to autonomy in birth. Harmonising national legislation as proposed, will ensure all women can have confidence in the transparency, safety and accountability of care during birth, in the same way, all across Australia.

Dr Zoe Bradfield, ACM President.

��TV and ACM urge health ministers to come together to support, enact and implement legislation aligned with the South Australian model. Doing so will strengthen maternal and newborn safety, support professional practice, and contribute to equitable birthing care across Australia.

We stand ready to work in partnership with governments, health services and those with lived experience to assist in implementing and operationalising such legislation.