Apparently birth rates are booming down under, and to handle the demand, Australia's federal government is looking to expand midwifery care, giving licensed midwives more access to insurance, prescribing rights, and ability to get paid through public health subsidies even if they aren't working directly under a doctor's supervision. The goals of the review will also include "how to cut medical interventions such as caesarean sections and forceps deliveries. Alternative birth options will also be examined, including the possibility for more home births."

Australian OBs aren't thrilled, but it seems that in a country that has a "chief nurse and midwifery officer," who is leading the overhaul, that they don't have quite as much power as they do stateside.

Photo by salimfadhley.