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Lift Restrictions on Maternity Care
- Updated: 23rd September 2020
I believe it is non-sensical that partners or husbands of pregnant women are not allowed into the delivery ward with their partner, and even doubly so that they’re not allowed to attend the twenty weeks scan and have to have sit outside in the car park in many cases.
As one constituent put it to me, pregnant women throughout the country are currently going through appointments, scans, labour and sometimes even birthing alone at what is arguably the most vulnerable time of their lives. This is especially true for people who get the devastating news that their pregnancies are not viable or those who have to go through a miscarriage without a loved one present.
The World Health Organisation guidelines state that Covid19 should not impact on a woman’s right to have a partner of her choice with her throughout the pregnancy. It is also true that only allowing the father in at the eleventh hour is putting the man’s needs ahead of a woman’s and doesn’t recognise that she has an internationally recognised human right to have her support present herself.
