Women to claim their rights in childbirth with 1000 Global Premieres set to launch the landmark Freedom For Birth Film
Human rights abuses during childbirth will be highlighted in a powerful new documentary to be launched on 20th September 2012.
Described by the filmmakers as ‘the biggest even in the history of birth activism’, Freedom for Birth will be screened simultaneously in 1000 locations in over 50 countries in 17 different languages.
Durban will have it’s own local screening at Umhlali Country Club in Ballito at 6pm on 20th September 2012.
Featuring a Who’s Who of 40 international birth experts, academics, Human Rights lawyers, doctors and midwives, the film calls for a radical shake-up of the world’s maternity systems.
Made by British filmmaking couple Toni Harman and Alex Wakeford, Freedom for Birth tells the story of Hungarian midwife Agnes Gereb, imprisoned for supporting women during homebirths, and the subsequent successful European Court of Human Rights case that has major implications for childbirth around the world.
Filmmaker Toni Harman says, ‘the court ruling means that every birthing woman in Europe has the legal right to decide where and who she gives birth.’
The 1000 Freedom for Birth premiere screenings will start at a breakfast screening in New Zealand and end in Hawaii. The day also includes screenings at the Cambridge Film Festival, Yale University, the Motherhood Museum in New York and the Royal College of Midwives in London.
Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), says: ‘The making of this film, with the RCM is supporting, will go a long way to help make skilled maternity care a reality for those women who currently do not have access to it.’
Hermine Hayes-Klein, US Lawyer and organiser of the recent Human Rights In Childbirth conference at the Hague says, ‘Freedom For Birth hold the answer to changing the system. Birth will change when women realise they have a right to meaningful support for childbirth and claim that right. Birth will change when women stand up against the abuses that are currently suffered in such high numbers and say, No More.’
Filmmaker Alex Wakeford concludes, ‘With the release of Freedom for Birth, we hope millions of women become aware of their legal rights. With stories of forced caesarean sections and persecution of those providing woman-focused care, it doesn’t make for easy viewing but has the potential to spark a revolution in maternity care across the world. In fact, we are calling this The Mothers’ Revolution.’