Your story can help change
women’s healthcare in Australia
On 19 August 2026, the Senate referred an inquiry to the Select Committee on Women’s Health for report by 18 August 2027. The Terms of Reference are below.
Information about the inquiry and where to upload your submission is available at Select Committee on Women’s Health – Parliament of Australia.
What we're asking
What happens to women+ and their partners after the baby is born? What happens when a woman’s pain isn’t believed? When fertility treatment is out of reach? When support after birth is a postcode lottery.
Maternity care has always focused on getting women+ and babies safely through pregnancy and birth. But what happens after? One appointment with a GP or maternity care provider can’t capture everything birth leaves behind, physically and emotionally. Some injuries take longer to surface. Some women aren’t ready to talk about symptoms that early. Some don’t yet know that their symptoms aren’t just something they have to live with. Too many are discharged with no plan for what comes next.
Download Submission TemplateThis inquiry isn't only for people who have experienced birth-related trauma; it's a chance for all women+ to voice their experiences.
What the inquiry covers in its terms of reference – you can use this as a guide to talk about your experiences
How to best support
How to best support mothers and their partners with physical and mental health care after birth, including support for those who have lost a baby.
Postpartum period
What the postpartum period is really like for women; the physical, emotional and financial toll of giving birth.
Good pregnancy
What good pregnancy and postpartum care should look like, to protect mothers' physical and mental health in the long run.
Postpartum care costs
How much postpartum care costs, and how easy or hard it is to get, including: i. help with infant feeding, ii. mental health support, iii. physiotherapy, including pelvic health physio, and iv. other allied health support (like dietitians, occupational therapists and social workers).
Support
Support and information around reproductive health and contraception, before and after birth.
Health professionals
How well health professionals are trained and educated in pregnancy and postpartum care.
Governments
What governments, federal, state and territory, are already doing about postpartum care, and whether it's working.
Data collected
How well postpartum health data is collected, tracked and used to guide research and funding.
Pain
What it's like for women and girls living with ongoing, severe or long-lasting pain.
Help for pain
What happens when women try to get help for their pain; including being dismissed or not believed because of their gender.
Treatment
What stops women from getting proper pain treatment, including cost and lack of options.
IVF care
What good fertility and IVF care should look like.
Affordability
How affordable and accessible fertility treatment is.
Medical devices
How medical devices used in women's healthcare are tested, approved and monitored for safety.
Complaints
How well regulators and other bodies handle complaints when a medical device causes harm.
Other information
Anything else people think the committee should know.
You might have experienced:
- Anxiety, panic attacks or feeling very scared about medical care or having another baby
- Feeling upset, scared or triggered when thinking about the birth or having medical treatment
- Feeling disconnected from your body, your baby or your partner after the birth
- Trouble sleeping, including nightmares, poor sleep or always feeling on edge
- Ongoing feelings of guilt, shame, sadness, grief or anger about what happened
- Feeling like you lost control of what happened to your body or your care
- Losing trust in doctors, midwives or other health professionals
- Finding it hard to bond with your baby
- Pain or problems with sex, intimacy or feeling comfortable in your body
- Physical problems that started during pregnancy or birth and did not go away
- Ongoing problems with your bladder or bowel
- Finding it hard to exercise, lift things, sit, walk or do activities you used to enjoy
- Feeling scared about being pregnant or giving birth again
- Relationship difficulties because of the impact of the birth on you
- Feeling alone because other people did not understand what you were going through
- Having to tell your story over and over again to different health professionals
- Needing ongoing treatment, therapy or other support after giving birth
- Money or work problems because of ongoing symptoms or needing treatment
- Feeling like the experience has changed your confidence or how you feel about yourself
- Feeling grief or sadness about the birth or recovery you hoped to have
- Being told that what you were experiencing was “just part of having a baby” when it didn’t feel normal to you
Or your experience might be about pain, fertility or your care more broadly. You might have experienced:
1.
Being told your pain was “normal”, “in your head”, or something to just live with
2.
Years of seeking answers for pain, only to be dismissed, disbelieved or sent away
3.
Feeling like your symptoms weren’t taken seriously because you’re a woman
4.
The cost of fertility treatment, or barriers to accessing it, shaping decisions you didn’t want to make
5.
Not knowing where to complain, or complaining and getting nowhere
6.
Feeling that your experience as a health professional caring for women wasn’t reflected in the policies and training you were given
Your story matters
If you are thinking about submitting to this inquiry, we encourage you to think about the emotional cost, like relationships with your children or whether you have more children, your sense of self, your overall wellbeing.
Then think about the financial cost of seeking care, GP appointments, mental health support, physical support from specialists like pelvic physios or colorectal surgeons, needing extra help at home, time away from work, your ability to care for yourself and your family.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Only share what you’re comfortable with. If you’re telling a personal story, consider leaving out identifiable details about yourself, your baby or individual healthcare providers, unless you specifically want to include them in a formal submission.
If you need further support or have questions about making a submission, please email the team: support@birthtrauma.org.au
Birth Trauma Australia (BTA) is Australia’s leading charity dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of birth-related trauma.
Health professionals: we want to hear from you too
If you work in maternity, perinatal care, primary or allied health care, your experience matters too.
You see where the system works and where the gaps in support may be from conception through birth and beyond.
You may also see the gaps in our current postpartum care system: limited follow-up, unclear referral pathways, long wait times, poor coordination between services, or a lack of support for complex physical and emotional needs.
We want to hear what you’re seeing on the ground.
What needs to change? What do your families tell you? What would make it easier for you to provide better perinatal care? And what do you think women+ and their families need after birth that they aren’t getting now?
You can use our health professional template to share your experience, observations and ideas for change.
Download Submission TemplateSubmissions
The committee invites you to make a submission addressing some or all of the terms of reference. The closing date for submissions is 9 October 2026.
If the committee accepts your submission, it will usually be made publicly available on the inquiry webpage. If you would like to request that your name be withheld or any part of your submission be kept confidential, please state this clearly when you make your submission and provide a reason for your request. You will be advised whether the committee has agreed to your request.
Submissions can be made online via the inquiry webpage, sent via email to womenshealth.sen@aph.gov.au or posted to the committee at PO Box 6100, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600.
Submissions become committee documents. You should not circulate or publish your submission before it has been accepted by the committee. Once accepted, submissions are covered by parliamentary privilege in Australia, but their unauthorised release is not.
For further information about making a submission see: Making a submission – Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au)
