As birth workers, the doulas at BirthBliss Academy actively do what we can to support the birthing rights of all women and pregnant people at all times. During the Covid-19 pandemic, restrictions of partners attending scans and appointments, as well as the time allowed into labour wards for partners and additional support staff have now come into question. Whilst valid at the start of the pandemic, they are now unnecessary and adversely affecting the health and well-being of parents and their babies. There are countless stories emerging about increases in traumatic births, stillbirths, women birthing alone. And yet as many organisations, MVPs and members of the public fight for change, they are not being heard.
We have written an open letter to Professor Whitty, Matt Hancock and NHS England to explain our concerns. Together with this petition started by Holly Avis that at the time of writing has over 200,000 signatures, now is the time for action. So we need your help to ensure that notice and action is taken…
Here is the plan - please be sure to follow these simple steps:
Please consider writing to your MP about these issues. You can use the open letter as a template. If you do write to them, take this into account:
- They won't respond if you CC them
- They won't respond if you are not in their constituency
- They won't respond if you do not include your address.
- It may take up to 10 days for them to read
You can find who your local MP using this link : https://members.parliament.uk/constituencies/
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We do not stand alone. we have the support of hundreds of thousands of people across the UK via these petitions:
https://www.change.org/p/partners-allowed-for-entirety-of-labour-birth-in-all-hospitals
https://www.change.org/p/nhs-protect-the-right-to-have-a-birth-partner-during-covid-19
FURTHER RESOURCES:
If you have had a negative experience during pregnancy, birth and in the postnatal period, there are organisations out there who can offer support and help.
The Birth Trauma Association - https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk/
PaNDAS - https://pandasfoundation.org.uk/
MIND - https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/postnatal-depression-and-perinatal-mental-health/ptsd-and-birth-trauma/
Please feel free to contact us here at The BirthBliss Academy by emailing kicki@birthbliss.co.uk
If you need help and support to write to your trust or help with Human Rights issues, these two organisation are great:
AIMS: https://www.aims.org.uk/information/item/coronavirus
Birthrights:
https://www.birthrights.org.uk/covid-19/
https://www.birthrights.org.uk/2020/08/20/birthrights-calls-for-easing-of-visiting-restrictions-in-maternity-services
We have written an open letter to Professor Whitty, Matt Hancock and NHS England to explain our concerns. Together with this petition started by Holly Avis that at the time of writing has over 200,000 signatures, now is the time for action. So we need your help to ensure that notice and action is taken…
Here is the plan - please be sure to follow these simple steps:
- Share/forward this email to as many organisations, bloggers, journalists, influencers as you can think of (via email, private messages and private groups/forums).
- Create your own post on Twitter (and other channels if you use them) using the memes attached to this email and include the hashtag #ButNotMaternity
- Tag Matt Hancock, Boris Johnson, Professor Whitty and NHS England in the post:
- Twitter: @MattHancock @BorisJohnson @CMO_England @NHSuk
- Instagram: @borisjohnsonuk @matthancockmp @nhsengland
- Facebook: @matthancockofficial @borisjohnson @NHSEngland
- Tag your local NHS Trust (you will need to find this yourself)
- Please also use the following secondary hashtags as you prefer (in addition to the main one) #LockedOutOfBirth #ProtectMyBirthBubble #BirthRightsDuringCovid #CovidBirthRights #BirthBlissDoulas #BirthWorkersUnited #DoulaSupport #BirthRightsDuringLockdown #CovidBabies #LockDownBirthRights
- Re-tweet and share everyone’s posts across all the Social Media platforms.
- Repeat daily using the created meme for each day of the week (although if you prefer to, you can also use your own content and blogs etc, so long as the campaign hashtag and tags are used.
Please consider writing to your MP about these issues. You can use the open letter as a template. If you do write to them, take this into account:
- They won't respond if you CC them
- They won't respond if you are not in their constituency
- They won't respond if you do not include your address.
- It may take up to 10 days for them to read
You can find who your local MP using this link : https://members.parliament.uk/constituencies/
Day 1 Meme.png
Day 2 Meme.png
Day 3 Meme.png
Day 4 Meme.png
Day 5 Meme.png
Day 6 Meme.png
Day 7 Meme.png
Day 8 Meme.png
We do not stand alone. we have the support of hundreds of thousands of people across the UK via these petitions:
https://www.change.org/p/partners-allowed-for-entirety-of-labour-birth-in-all-hospitals
https://www.change.org/p/nhs-protect-the-right-to-have-a-birth-partner-during-covid-19
FURTHER RESOURCES:
If you have had a negative experience during pregnancy, birth and in the postnatal period, there are organisations out there who can offer support and help.
The Birth Trauma Association - https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk/
PaNDAS - https://pandasfoundation.org.uk/
MIND - https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/postnatal-depression-and-perinatal-mental-health/ptsd-and-birth-trauma/
Please feel free to contact us here at The BirthBliss Academy by emailing kicki@birthbliss.co.uk
If you need help and support to write to your trust or help with Human Rights issues, these two organisation are great:
AIMS: https://www.aims.org.uk/information/item/coronavirus
Birthrights:
https://www.birthrights.org.uk/covid-19/
https://www.birthrights.org.uk/2020/08/20/birthrights-calls-for-easing-of-visiting-restrictions-in-maternity-services
Please download the press release:
| PRESS RELEASE |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Birth Choices Scotland’s recent campaign was instrumental in the Covid-19 Phase 3 Scotland’s Route Map (9th July 2020). Our open letter and memes were inspired by their work.