Silencing women and scapegoating doulas — the new face of control in maternity care

Over the past few days, the discourse around freebirth and the role of doulas has been clouded by miscommunication, misplaced blame, and blatant misogyny. Recent statements from Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) and Australian College of Midwives (ACM) have sparked what feels like a targeted witch-hunt of doulas; one that diverts attention away from the deeper, systemic problems in maternity care.

Not only that, the ACM appears to have released its statement without any robust member consultation. That decision sparked a chain reaction that laid bare how disenchanted many midwives already feel with their own association’s direction, especially around access, autonomy, and the predictable knock-on: more women walking away from the system altogether. Many members have openly voiced their frustration, saying the ACM is “getting into bed with RANZCOG” and bending over backwards to keep the obstetric establishment happy, rather than standing up for midwives, women, and true continuity of care.

Here are just a few comments on the ACM post by midwives:

“You either support absolute women’s autonomy, or you don’t – you don’t. This is so disappointing, it’s driving an even bigger wedge between women and the system.”

“ACM should be consulting with their member midwives well before lawyers, before releasing outrageous and harmful statements in kahoots with RANCOG. Absolutely appalling and so shortsighted.”

“Shame they didn’t do the same consultation with the members that they “represent.””

“Very few midwives are voicing their support for this, many of us are alarmed and horrified. ACM did this without consulting their member midwives. This is an ACM leadership issue and failure.”

“When you’ve seen the REAL systemic change happen – when women are safe and respected with their choice of carer – without a whole risk-centred pregnancy and intrusive tests of marginal value that can suddenly remove that carer for one dumb test result – when the dignity of birth and our bodies is respected in the system rather than treated as a bundle of risk management events – THEN collaborate with RANZCOG on criminalising this. Until then, this call for MORE regulation is using women as pawns in a political strategy. I value midwifery care and share your goal, but RANZCOG acts to oppose those values so your collaboration on this is a betrayal.”

And then, of course, we need to hear from some of the doulas – the women on the frontline who are feeling the sting of this animosity, the dismissal of their professionalism, and the ongoing degradation of their role. To be constantly misrepresented, misunderstood, and publicly undermined is exhausting. Doulas give so much of themselves; heart, time, presence, and care, yet are treated as though their work is meaningless or dangerous. It’s no wonder so many are feeling disheartened, angry, and silenced and are now ready for a fight!

“ACM have completely jumped into bed with RANZCOG in the hope they leave Midwives alone. If they are both focused on condemning Doulas they feel like they are friends. But be careful ACM. RANZCOG still doesn’t respect you either. Doulas have been shown now to be the ONLY ones that really are with women. We are the ones that will listen to women and hear them. And then support whatever it is they want. Come for us we are fking here and ready.”

“Doulas are here to stay. We’re not going anywhere. We will continue to stand beside women, to be their voice when others won’t, and to fight for respectful, informed, woman-centred care. If no other profession is willing to take responsibility for improving birth, then we will — because every woman deserves to feel safe, heard, and supported in one of the most defining moments of her life. We also recognise that certain authorities are working hard to create a divide between midwives and doulas, a deliberate chasm designed to weaken collaboration and control the narrative. But their tactics won’t work. The power of birth lies in unity, not hierarchy, and we’re done playing their game.”

“When institutions hold all the authority over birth, doulas are treated like we don’t know our place — even though our place has always been right beside the birthing woman. It’s disheartening watching authority take over what should belong to women. Doulas aren’t the problem — we’re just not afraid to name it. We’re not against authority — we’re against forgetting who birth is really for. As doulas, we’re tired of being painted as the issue. We’re here because birth deserves voices that care, not just those in authority.”

“Look at us defending a woman’s right to choose free birth haha! I would never attend a deliberate free birth because I think there are to many variables that can go wrong and I just don’t want to put myself in that situation but man I’ll die on that hill defending a woman’s right to choose however way she wants to birth.”

 

 

So, this is what started the whole media frenzy after RANZCOG shared this:

“In light of several recent tragedies linked to freebirth, RANZCOG and the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) are urging Commonwealth, state, and territory health ministers to introduce laws like those in South Australia under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) (Restricted Birthing Practices) Amendment Act 2013. These laws would ensure that only registered midwives and doctors manage labour and childbirth. Freebirth is the practice of giving birth without a registered healthcare professional, such as a midwife or doctor, present. It is different from a homebirth, which is planned and supported by a registered healthcare provider. The absence of appropriate clinical support during freebirth has led to preventable harm and loss of life. Adopting this legal framework across Australia would help keep birthing women and people, and their babies, safe. It would also strengthen professional accountability and clarify the roles and responsibilities of obstetricians, GP obstetricians, and midwives.”

Read the full statement on the RANZCOG and ACM websites:

https://ranzcog.edu.au/news/ranzcog-acm-call-on-health-ministers-to-end-freebirth-deaths

https://midwives.org.au/Web/News-media-releases/Articles/2025/03_November/Jooint_Call_Health_Ministers_End_Freebirth_Deaths

My response to both of these organisations:

Where is the accountability for hospitals, obstetricians, and midwives who traumatise women to the point that they feel safer birthing alone?

Before pushing to criminalise or restrict freebirth, perhaps we should first ask why women are choosing it. These are not reckless women! They are women who have often experienced, witnessed, or been retraumatised by coercion, bullying, unnecessary interventions, or lack of consent in our maternity system. When care feels unsafe, disrespectful, or harmful, women retreat to where they can feel safe, and for some, that means birthing at home without medical oversight.

RANZCOG and ACM talk about “preventable harm and loss of life” but how much of that harm begins inside the system? Where are the calls for accountability, transparency, and systemic change when women report being ignored, assaulted, or left emotionally broken after hospital births?

And while we’re asking questions, why the ongoing witch hunt against doulas? Majority of doulas who attend freebirths are there in a non-clinical, non-medical capacity offering emotional and physical support, holding space, and ensuring the woman is not alone. Yet somehow, hospitals, obstetricians, and midwives are quick to shift blame, painting doulas as “unqualified birth attendants” as a convenient scapegoat. Doulas are not there to act as doctors, obstetricians, or midwives and real doulas never claim to be. But instead of acknowledging the system’s inadequacies and addressing why women no longer feel safe within it, the focus turns to criminalising doulas to deflect responsibility.

If we truly want to keep mothers and babies safe, we need to stop scapegoating doulas and start listening to women. Safety is not just about clinical management, it’s about trust, respect, informed consent, and trauma-informed care. Until those exist consistently, punitive laws and blame games won’t solve the problem; they’ll only drive women further away from the system that should have supported them in the first place.

Like so many media outlets, the Herald Sun has now weighed in on the growing media frenzy around freebirth and doulas, and, unsurprisingly, the comment section was flooded with ignorance and misinformation. Once again, instead of seeking to understand why women are stepping away from the system, the narrative has turned into finger-pointing, fearmongering, and blame. It’s frustrating, but it also shows just how much work we still have to do in educating the public about what doulas actually do, and why so many women are losing trust in maternity care.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FXoGhfkng/

Here’s a gem from Cheryl Steele, who, like so many others, seems to think she’s cracked the code on what doulas do; despite having absolutely no clue. I’ve seen Cheryl pop up on social media before with her usual negative, trashy and derogatory remarks, and it’s hard not to think she’s just another troll chasing a few extra likes.

 

Troll or not, this comment really highlights how misunderstood the role of a doula still is, and how easily people dismiss or ridicule what they don’t understand. Doulas are not there in a medical or clinical capacity; they are there to fill the gap on a deeply personal and emotional level, offering the kind of continuity and compassion that the system often can’t provide.

A doula is not “just a friend.” Majority of doulas are highly trained individuals who provide non-clinical physical, emotional, and informational support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. They don’t replace midwives or doctors; they complement them. Their work is grounded in evidence-based knowledge around birth physiology, communication, advocacy, and trauma-informed care.

Research from multiple studies, including those published by the Cochrane Collaboration, shows that having continuous support from a doula leads to shorter labours, fewer interventions, reduced rates of caesarean, and higher satisfaction with birth experiences. That’s not the result of someone who “knows less than your mother and more than your cat.” That’s the result of someone who understands birth on a deep, human level and supports women holistically when the system often doesn’t.

The ignorance in statements like this is exactly why doulas are so highly needed. Studies show that around one in three women experience birth trauma; not because birth itself is inherently traumatic, but because of how they were treated during it by the very people they should trust and feel safe with. Too many women describe feeling ignored, coerced, dismissed, or violated in moments when they were at their most vulnerable.

Birth trauma isn’t just about physical injury, it’s about emotional and psychological harm caused by a lack of consent, loss of control, or feeling unsafe in the very system designed to care for them. These experiences can leave deep scars, leading to anxiety, depression, fear of future pregnancies, and even post-traumatic stress.

This is where doulas make such a difference. Women deserve more than medical management; they deserve continuity, compassion, advocacy, and someone in their corner who isn’t bound by hospital policy or a ticking clock. A doula’s presence can be the difference between a woman feeling she merely survived her birth and feeling that she was seen, heard, and supported through it.

What’s disheartening is seeing some midwives and even other women try to tear doulas down, as if their presence threatens the professional role of others. There’s no need for that; our roles are vastly different but deeply complementary. Imagine how incredible birth could be if we worked with each other instead of against each other; intertwining the threads of medical expertise, emotional support, and holistic care.

That’s what it truly means to be “with woman.”

AND…..if a doula is performing “restricted birthing practices” and imitating a midwife or someone in a clinical capacity, then they are not a doula – they are an imposter.

Another comment by Ross Parker echoed a common misconception; that doulas should somehow be responsible for medical emergencies or clinical outcomes. It highlights just how little many people truly understand about the distinct, non-clinical nature of our role and why that difference matters.

How is that the fault of the doula when they are not hired to be medical professionals or to provide any clinical assistance?

This is exactly the problem; the ongoing miscommunication and misunderstanding about the role of the doula. Too many people in the medical field seem to think doulas are trying to “take over” or perform clinical duties, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Doulas are non-medical support people, and their role is emotional, physical, and informational; not diagnostic, not clinical, and not procedural.

If parents choose to freebirth, that is their right. It’s a personal, autonomous decision. But with choice comes both responsibility and consequence, and that responsibility does not belong to the doula.

If someone is performing restricted birthing practices or clinical procedures, then let’s call that what it is – a person acting outside the doula scope, not a doula at all. They are an imposter operating under a false title, and that distinction matters. Genuine doulas know their scope, respect it, and work professionally with midwives and other professionals.

Instead of scapegoating doulas, perhaps the focus should be on improving the system so that women want to remain within it; not punishing the people who simply sit beside them when they no longer feel safe doing so because of the way they have been treated by doctors, obstetricians AND GET THIS…..some MIDWIVES as well.

And let’s include Sue Carp’s comment; yet another reminder of how deep the misunderstanding runs when it comes to the doula profession and women’s right to choose their own birth support.

 

You’re absolutely right Sue; doulas are not midwives, so let’s stop with this assumption that is what a doula has been hired for. Their role isn’t to replace a midwife or perform anything medical or clinical, so it’s unreasonable to blame doulas for things that fall outside their scope. Parents have the ultimate responsibility to educate themselves and make informed choices, and if they choose a free birth, they must also accept responsibility for the outcomes.

Choice and responsibility go hand in hand.

If someone is engaging in restrictive or unsafe birthing practices, they are not acting as a doula; and like I keep saying, they are an imposter falsely representing both professions. Unfortunately, much of the confusion comes from people who have no understanding of what doulas actually do, and their misinformation spreads quickly, damaging the reputation of doulas who are working ethically and within their scope.

We also need to acknowledge that some of these so-called birth workers are actually former midwives who have chosen to deregister because they could no longer tolerate the toxic environment of the hospital system or chose to leave the profession when the COVID mandates came into effect. That in itself is understandable, but the problem arises when they start calling themselves doulas while continuing to perform all the clinical tasks of a midwife.

This is precisely what the legislation in South Australia and Western Australia was designed to address: unregistered midwives still engaging in restricted birthing practices under a different title. To be fair, deregistration doesn’t erase their medical knowledge or experience; but it also doesn’t give them the right to misrepresent their role.

If you are still performing medical procedures, identifying risks, or “managing” births, you are not a doula; you are an unregistered midwife, and that distinction matters. Stop hiding behind the title of “doula” and damaging an entire profession built on non-clinical, holistic support. You’re not a doula, and those of us who are, don’t want to be associated with that deception.

Then there is this comment by a midwife on a post shared by Doula-ing Under the Pharoah…before she deleted the thread because she probably didn’t expect the response she got that didn’t align with hers.  https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A9tDWgSoG/

Tracey KB
Well if “some well meaning doulas” didn’t take on the “midwife” role this would not be an issue.. I’ve come up against my fair share of doulas giving “health labour and birth advice” which was very dangerous! And they became combative when “advocating” for “their” woman! When was the last time you had a neonate die on you from a shoulder dystocia? Or near loose a woman from a PPH? It stays with you for life.. yes plenty of women can have safe intervention free home births, but many many can not and they would die along with their baby without intervention, is this the maternal world you want? I’m very happy for a doula to represent a free birthed at home…but just don’t call 000 when it all goes bad! Childbirth is not free from risk…it’s dangerous for some women and baby’s!”

My response to Tracey KB….

This is exactly where so much of the confusion around doulas comes from. It’s not the doula’s responsibility to manage medical emergencies like shoulder dystocia or postpartum haemorrhage; yet people keep asking questions as if it is or shouting “doulas are not qualified.” It’s like a broken record. The constant deflection of blame onto doulas by medical professionals because they happen to be present when a woman chooses to freebirth completely misses the point. The real question should be: why are so many women choosing to freebirth in the first place? Doulas are not there to offer medical support, diagnose complications, or manage births, that’s not our job, and it’s never claimed to be. Our role is to provide emotional, physical, and informational support, not clinical care. So why keep stating the obvious – that doulas aren’t medically qualified – as if that’s a revelation? FFS – that’s literally the point.

 

 

So, when we look at the media shit storm at the moment, all these kinds of comments just keep multiplying; a clear reflection of how misunderstood the role of a doula still is. It’s disappointing to see so many people speaking with such confidence about something they haven’t taken the time to understand yet are fuelled by the surrounding media and other people’s ignorance; like ripples that spread outward, their tentacles tightening with every uninformed opinion.

Rather than learning what doulas actually do, which involves offering emotional, physical, and informational support within clear professional boundaries, they continue to spread misinformation that fuels division instead of collaboration.

At the end of the day, this isn’t about doulas versus midwives, or hospitals versus homebirth, it’s about respect, autonomy, and truth. Women deserve access to safe, compassionate, evidence-based care that honours both their choices and their humanity.

Instead of deflecting blame or starting another witch hunt, RANZCOG and ACM energy should be going into fixing what’s broken: the lack of trust, the lack of continuity, and the system that keeps pushing women away in the first place.

Doulas are not the enemy. We are the bridge between the clinical and the personal, between fear and confidence, between feeling dismissed and feeling seen. We stand beside women, not above them.

It’s time to stop silencing the voices calling for change and start listening to what women have been saying for years: the system isn’t working. And until it does, no amount of legislation or blame-shifting will stop women from seeking the care, the peace, and the safety they want and deserve.