I have interviewed trainee midwives who tell me there are no jobs for them; the NHS says there is a shortage of midwives.

I have heard that the maternity beds in many hospitals are closed - because of a shortage of money.

My friend who is an independent midwife cannot get insurance to cover her, and now the government is saying that all independent midwives have to have insurance.

Will someone please take control of the situation and make sure that ALL midwives can work, both in the NHS and independently. (mother and grandmother)

Hearing the news that, in the future, it will not be possible for the british women to
choose the place they deliver their children worries mee deeply. Coming from a country
where our whole obstetrics system is built on free choice I am shocked and apalled. Not
only are you taking the labour of very well trainded collegues away, the british women
are forced to deliver their babies in a hospital. Their free choice is taken away and my
question is *why*?

Fysiological pregnancies and deliveries have no need whatsoever to be monitored in a hospital when there is an independent, well trained midwife taking care of them.

Research has shown that a delivery is unneccesary medicalised when taken in a hospital.
The midwives who work there feel the gynaecologist breathing down their necks to hurry up
and speed up a natural process. Impatience is the biggest threat for a labouring woman.
She needs to let nature help her deliver her baby. We are only spectators who can relieve
her pains by coaching her an being there for her. If deliveries turn pathological or the
pains are too strong, fortunately we live in countries where hospitals are not far away,
neither is pain relief. We cannot and should not speed up a delivery just because *we*would like to work between 9.00 and 5.00.

A home delivery is not for everyone, but to take away the choice is  paternalistic in a
very foolish way. Being a Dutch independant midwife, taking 70% of our fysiological
deliveries at home, having worked in this sytem for 9 years now, I try to fight the rules
and regulations that are made up by mostly men, who do not know how important it is to
feel safe, to feel heard and to feel that you've been taken seriously in some of the most
painfull hours of your life. Fortunately there have been midwives before me who have
fought the battles to make it happen so my collegues and Ican work this way in the Dutch
system . From midwives all over the world I've heard how proud we should be of our system
and they are fighting their own battles to get there.

Since the system is already in place in the UK, why take it away? Who will benefit from
it? Certainly not the women and children who have been forced to deliver in a place where
they do not want to be. Be realistic and see the good side of it, it will cost less! No
hospital bills, no beds that are taken up by healthy women and children!

I can understand that our colleagues feel threatened and not being backed up by their own
trade union is outrageous!

Stand up to the men and women who have no idea what and who they are playing with, fight
the battle, make yourself heard throughout the world. Let no one take the right of free
choice away! (Dutch independent midwife)

My first child was born by emergency Caesarean in September 2002, I found it very difficult to deal with what I found a traumatic experience.

For my second child I was determined not to repeat the situation and I booked a team of independent midwives. I found Teresa and Tina to be empowering and I gave birth naturally at home with no pain relief and I could not have done it without them.

My birth was not textbook and if in an NHS environment I believe it is likely I would have been induced much earlier. I needed an alternative to the NHS, for me Independent Midwifery was the only safe alternative. (ex-client)

It took me all day and made me very grumpy to all my family, but I've composed and sent my campaign letters.

At lunchtime my sister texted me re: news of the 'Maternity Matters' release, thinking I'd be pleased. Thought I'd have to alter my letters in the light of the promises and 'guarantees', but in fact the document makes not a jot of difference to what I had written.

I had our first baby 26 years ago but I can well remember that what troubled me most was that I had no control over the care I, my baby and husband had in labour.

Independent midwives fully respond to this universal concern and the Department of Health does not. Love to all, Alex (midwife, mother and grandmother- to- be)

Many thanks on behalf of the IMA 

As a Nurse and mother of three I want to offer my support.

Pregnancy and childbirth is one of the most important times in a woman's life and the right care and support makes so much difference.

A friend of mine cared for me throughout my last pregnancy and delivered my daughter - it makes so much difference. She helped me to have the 'perfect birth'.

All women should have the choice - I have written to my MP and will continue to do what I can to support you. (nurse and mother of three)

Why does the government want to protect women from their own choices?

Why are we safer with insurance? I have been working as a trainee doula with women booked with insured NHS midwives. I have witnessed, due mainly to a shortage of midwives, care for birthing women which cannot always put the safety of the woman first.

To threaten independent midwifery, when the midwifery profession is in crisis, is insane and tragic. How on earth can the government even think of banning independent midwives whose clients have a higher than average rate of safe and positive birth experiences?

Independent midwives have chosen to work independently so that they can provide a service that is "in service" to pregnant and birthing women. It is insulting and sad that they are having to use so much of their time and energy to fight for survival. I am enraged by it.These are midwives whose work keeps alive an age old tradition of midwifery care that is truly woman centred. To lose these skills and wisdom will, in the end, cost the government and the NHS millions of pounds, not to mention lives.

I wanted to know who was going to be there with me as I gave birth, who was going to witness and guide me and to support me in my own belief and confidence in my birthing body. I do not want people I have never seen before to be with me as I give birth. Birth is one of the most intense emotional, physical and sexual events of life! I know that for a safe and healthy birth, I need to feel safe and relaxed, therefore I need to know and trust my midwives. Not all women feel the same, but millions do and what choices are the government offering to us? Without independent midwives in London, unless I lived near enough to the Albany practice, I would have to choose to give birth outside the system, illegally.

I have had 4 homebirths with independent midwives, one when midwives still had insurance and the other 3 without. The births of my four children still glow in my mind and so do the midwives who guided and travelled with me through that pregnancy, birth and post natal period . The births of my children will inform me for the rest of my life and give me confidence in myself and in mothering my children. A birth can be an empowering experience for a woman, whatever the type of birth, if she is listened to, respected and cared for, this is what independent midwives offer to women.

As for the money thing: I knew many of the other women who booked with the same independent midwife practice that I booked with for my first two children, and we were from vastly different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. We lived in council flats, mansions, squats, rented flats, and small and large family houses, we budgeted and some of us were able to spread payment over two or more years. It is what you prioritise in your life.

Like many other women there is not much I wouldn’t do to help save independent midwifery. I have told my children that we may have to holiday chained to the railings outside Parliament this summer, they agreed.

When my 9yr old asked me when the Dark Ages were, I told him “right now”. I talk about the threat to independent midwives all the time! And people, all kinds of people, are appalled at the impact this proposed legislation will have on independent midwives. (ex-client)

as ever i'm appalled,
it does smack of the witch hunts,
i dont care what anyone else says.
its all about power and the desired domination by a sexist majority of a mainly womans profession yet again, it's  incidious and never ending. dont give up the fight, you cant ever give up, because they are unlikely to for a long while yet, if ever.

i shall try to do my bit, however i don't much like andy reed MP, so im not sure what to do really.

(concerned member of the public and woman)