Tabloids, Trash and Trusting Birth (Memo to Tara Brown)

Sixty Minutes, that once reputable current affairs show, and reporter Tara Brown sunk to new lows on Sunday night with the airing of their story “Mothers Choice”. The report was supposed to examine the choices made by different women when it came to birthing their babies – two women who had opted for elective caesareans, one who was planning to freebirth (First note to you Tara – freebirth and homebirth are NOT the same thing, and the terms are not interchangeable), and another woman who had birthed both ways.

Honestly, I don’t think they could have crammed more sensationalist stereotypes into one story if they tried. The elective caesarean mothers were portrayed as professional, educated high earners – so educated that they cited reasons such as floppy vaginas, diminished sex lives, and no benefit to the baby from “all that agony” as their reasons for electing a caesarean birth. Informed choice anyone? The myths they espoused about vaginal birth were not corrected, in fact some of them were even backed up by a Sydney obstetrician who sprouted the old furfy that vaginal birth damages the pelvic floor - against all available evidence which tells us it is pregnancy, not vaginal birth, that contributes to a weakened pelvic floor.

The freebirthing mother was from a country town in Queensland. A salt of the earth type, who simply wanted to birth her baby without interference. Trusting her body, trusting birth. The innuendo throughout the story was palpable – she was selfish, irresponsible…reckless even for not birthing in a hospital. It was stated throughout the story that she was having a homebirth even though she was actually freebirthing (birthing without a midwife, doctor or experienced attendant present). Tara’s insistence on referring to a freebirth as a homebirth throughout the piece will only serve to fan the flames of those who would see homebirths with a registered midwife stomped out completely in this country. Yep, thanks to you Tara, there are undoubtedly people out there who think that all homebirths take place without an attendant - just like the one in your story. And while we’re on the subject of attendants and midwives, where the heck were they? How can you do a story on birth choices, and interview women, private obstetricians...and not a single midwife?

It was quite depressing really, to see what had the potential to be an informed and balanced report on an issue which is desperate for some coverage, turned into nothing more than sensationalist fluff. Good job Tara. Perhaps you might like to have another crack at this one after you have your baby in October.


You can view the story or transcript here. And if you’re as disgusted by this story as I was, maybe you could email Sixty Minutes and let them know, just while you're there.

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