Football Star’s Mother Backs Independent Midwives

THEO Walcott’s mother has joined the fight to save independent midwives from being “destroyed” by government legislation.The legislation will demand that independent midwives get insurance to cover their work, but fails to take into account that insurance companies have refused them this cover since 1994, leaving independent midwives in a Catch-22 situation.

Theo’s mother, Lynn, an independent midwife in the Newbury area, is adamant that the Government’s plans will ”criminalise” her profession. Mrs Walcott said: “This could be the death of independent midwifery as we know it. There are concerns that, if the legislation was passed, the profession could go underground. Whether some people would become rebels and do this, who knows?

“What we’re most unhappy about is the idea that insurance equals safety. This is not true: insurance doesn’t give any guarantee.”

Most of the women who choose independent midwifery do so because they have had a bad experience on the NHS and there are concerns that these women may try to have unassisted births.

Support group leader and homebirth mother, Charlotte Gander, said: “It’s the principle of the matter that choice is being taken away from women by the powers-that-be.”

One independent midwife working in the Newbury area, Paul Golden, said: “This will add to the current situation of reduced choices for birth - more medicalisation, and those outside the system will only have the option of unassisted births.”

Mrs Walcott argues that a possible solution would be to bring independent midwives under the arm of the NHS, while letting them continue with their current work ethic.

A petition against the Government’s plans can be found at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/midwives/