Mothers of certain ethnicities are being induced into labour up to two weeks earlier than other women under controversial guidelines used by at least two Sydney local health districts. The practice is aimed at reducing the incidence of stillbirth, but leading researchers and mothers are criticising it as a blanket solution that's not evidence based.
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00:00 Midwife, mother and PhD researcher Sharon Stolias says she was approached by a number
00:07 of midwives earlier this year about race-based birth guidelines.
00:12 They sent me their policies and then when I looked through it I thought, okay, there's
00:15 a real problem here.
00:16 Internal documents and patient charts seen by the ABC reveal inductions are being offered
00:21 to some pregnant women earlier than others based only on their ethnicity.
00:26 It applies to South Asian-born mothers at 40 weeks in the Sydney local health district
00:31 and South Asian, African, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Pacific mothers at 39
00:36 weeks in south-western Sydney.
00:39 The incidence of stillbirth is higher among these groups according to multiple studies
00:43 referenced in the guidelines, but the main author of two of these studies doesn't think
00:48 the response strikes the right balance.
00:51 At the moment we don't have evidence to say that we should be offering specific interventions
00:56 to women in healthcare settings based on their race.
01:00 A similar policy was proposed then abandoned in the UK after public backlash.
01:06 Ms Stolias says inducing too early can cause harm.
01:11 More intervention, poorer outcomes and more birth trauma and these are things that we
01:15 could reduce if we invested in better care.
01:19 A midwife at Canterbury Hospital has told the ABC staff first heard of the new induction
01:24 guideline in a 2020 email, but a lack of official policy has caused confusion.
01:29 She says this year one woman was even misidentified as South Asian and induced more than a week
01:35 early for no clinical reason.
01:37 The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says it supports individualised care based
01:43 on a woman's risk and choices and the latest evidence-based information.
01:48 The timing of birth should be a shared discussion between the woman and the clinician that matches
01:55 the particular risk profile of the pregnancy and also the desire of the woman themselves.
02:01 Come up with a compromise like maybe increase monitoring between the 39 to 40 week mark.
02:06 It's not fair to this group of women.
02:08 It is racial profiling at its worst.
02:11 New South Wales Health didn't respond to detailed questions but said it recommends increased
02:16 monitoring for women from high-risk ethnicities to inform the timing of birth.
02:21 [BLANK_AUDIO]