Empowering Women Your Birth, Your Choice

* A woman labours instinctively, following her own physiological rhythms & responses,

* the woman takes responsibility for arranging an appropriate setting and caregivers who will enable her to labour as she needs when the time comes,

* the woman, and her partner, are involved in all aspects of pregnancy & birth care, & are enabled to make informed decisions whenever necessary,

* management of the labour is rooted in the midwifery rather than the medical model,

* it is assumed by all involved that the labour & birth are normal, until there is conclusive medical evidence of a problem,

* the woman's assessment of the outcome is accepted & used as the primary measure of success or satisfation, rather than evaluations made by her caregivers.

For a Woman to Feel Empowered:

* she is fully aware of her rights & responsibilities,

* she is enabled to exercise her rights & make decisions about care affecting herself & her baby,

* she has the necessary social supports to ensure her physical & emotional well being,

* she is not subject to discrimination based on her age, sex or her state of pregnancy,

* her ability to grow, produce & nurture her baby is respected & accepted within the framework of birth as a normal bodily function for women.

Empowering Women by Andrea Robertson