Arabic version: ارتفاع الولادات على الطرقات في مناطق نيو ساوث ويلز مع مركزية الخدمات

According to ABC News, babies are being born before reaching hospital at twice the rate in regional New South Wales than in 2001, while the rate has more than tripled in outer regional and remote areas. The highest rates are on the Central Coast and in northern NSW, where one in 67 babies is born before arrival at hospital.

NSW Health’s figures include planned homebirths before a midwife arrives, freebirths before a hospital presentation, and births at home or in transit before a planned hospital birth. The data does not provide a breakdown between those categories. Perinatal social worker and regional maternity advocate Jen Laurie said many cases were, anecdotally, “roadside births” involving women travelling to care.

Shara Kimpton gave birth to her third child five weeks early at the Birdcage Rest Area on the Sturt Highway in the Riverina in 2023 while travelling more than 90 kilometres to Griffith Hospital. She later planned a freebirth for her fourth child because she did not want to risk another birth by the roadside. Murrumbidgee Local Health District apologised that Griffith Hospital could not provide her an antenatal visit before the recommended 14 weeks.

Advocates link the rise to the closure or suspension of dozens of birthing services and staffing shortages that have required women to travel further. Parkes’ maternity unit has been dormant since 2019, Muswellbrook closed in 2022, and birthing in Tumut has been suspended. NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said he wanted to reduce births before hospital arrival, describing them as a small percentage of all births but a concern for families. He said more than 300 new midwifery positions had been filled since 2023, half in rural and regional areas, while a statewide maternity service plan is due at the end of the year.