Protecting the Right to Informed Choice in Birth
Birth Autonomy Australia advocates for women's bodily autonomy, informed consent and the right to make decisions about pregnancy and birth without coercion, fear or punishment.
Why BAA Exists
Birth is a health-care decision - but it is also a deeply personal one.
Women have the right to make informed decisions about where they birth, who supports them, what care they accept and what care they decline.
Those rights do not disappear because a woman makes a choice that sits outside mainstream maternity care.
Birth Autonomy Australia exists to protect those rights, challenge coercive maternity practices and advocate for systems that respect women as the ultimate decision-makers in their own care.
What We Advocate For
Bodily Autonomy
Every woman has the right to make decisions about her own body throughout pregnancy and birth.
Informed Consent and Refusal
Consent must be voluntary, informed and ongoing. Women also have the right to decline recommended care.
Freedom of Birth Choice
Women must remain free to choose where they birth, how they birth and who supports them.
Respectful Maternity Care
Women deserve maternity care free from coercion, intimidation, manipulation and non-consensual treatment.
Accountability
Systems, services and practitioners must be accountable when women's rights are ignored or violated.
Current Advocacy
Protecting Non-Clinical Birth Support
BAA is monitoring increasing scrutiny of birthkeepers and other non-clinical birth support workers, particularly in connection with freebirth and planned birth outside mainstream maternity services.
There is an important distinction between providing non-clinical support and representing oneself as, or practising as, a registered health practitioner.
BAA is working to better understand how this distinction is currently being interpreted, how reports are being initiated and escalated and whether policy or regulatory change is being considered.
Birthkeeper Case Register
Have you been questioned, reported, referred or investigated in connection with attending a birth?
BAA is documenting these experiences to identify patterns in how birthkeepers and non-clinical birth support are being interpreted, reported and investigated.
Submissions may be anonymous.
For information-gathering and advocacy purposes only. BAA does not provide legal advice.
Maternity Accountability
Women continue to report coercion, lack of informed consent, disrespectful treatment and traumatic experiences within maternity services.
BAA believes conversations about women choosing care outside mainstream maternity systems must also examine what is happening inside those systems.
We are committed to identifying patterns, seeking greater transparency and advocating for meaningful accountability where women's rights are not being respected.
Share Your Experience
Your experience matters.
If you have experienced coercion, lack of informed consent, disrespectful maternity care, barriers to birth choice or other violations of your autonomy during pregnancy or birth, BAA wants to hear from you.
Stories help us understand what is happening across Australian maternity care and identify areas requiring advocacy, investigation and reform.
Stay Connected
Join the Birth Autonomy Australia network to stay informed about advocacy work, policy developments, submissions and opportunities to take action.
Protecting bodily autonomy, informed consent and freedom of choice in birth.
Contact: [email protected]
Instagram: @birthautonomyaustralia