Hello
Thanks for all your posts. We've been following the discussion with interest and Birthrights has kindly sent us answers to some of your questions.
Q: How is Birthrights going to raise awareness of women's rights offline; are you working with patient or midwife groups to disseminate the information in future? (flisspaps)
Q: Are you also working with maternity services websites or the NHS to get this info up? (teggie)
A: Birthrights is very aware of the need to reach out to women and those who provide their care offline and in a way that ensures everyone is well aware of the rights in advance of giving birth. We share your frustrations that it's only those with the time and resources to research that come across this information and changing that i a large part of our plan. We are a very new organisation, run entirely voluntarily at the moment and with small budgets, but we do have big ambitions. Our website is a starting point and is currently the only place with definitive, accurate advice on pregnancy, birth and human rights written by legal experts.
Now that this is up and running we are reaching out through partnerships such as this one with Mumsnet to make ourselves more visible and more women aware of the issues. Behind the scenes we are working with midwives and doctors too and have great relationships with organisations such as the Royal College of Midwives.
Later this year we will launch our first campaign. We can't tell you too much at the moment as we are currently planning and fundraising, but the broad idea is to work with service users and those who care for them to research, brainstorm and pilot a scheme to tackle these issues. We hope it's a scheme that will ensure in time that all women in the UK have this information given to them in a way they can understand, and in good time by their care providers and that midwives and doctors are well trained and supported in these issues. We'll keep you posted.
We will also be planning work directly with particularly vulnerable groups of women looking at the difficulties they encounter and as ever our legal advice service will provide help free of charge to those who get in touch.
If you feel passionately about these issues, please consider donating to our work and we'll keep you well informed about how we are using your donation.
Q: Can you clarify if the advice is UK-wide or for English law only? (jolly & sleepy)
A: The vast majority of our advice relates to human rights law and human rights remain the same throughout the UK, as all countries within it are bound by the Human Rights Act and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.
Where advice refers to non-human rights structures such as NICE, this is specific to England, but Birthrights is in contact with lawyers qualified in Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure we can give advice specifically to women in these countries should they need it.
Thanks
MHNQ