About this Event
Join Us for Allowed to Birth - Documentary Screening + Live Q&A Panel!
Allowed to Birth is a powerful new documentary following midwife and educator Kristine Lauria, exploring the global maternal health crisis and what it would take to make childbirth safer, more humane, and more empowering for all. Featuring leading voices in the birth world including Dr Melanie Jackson, Dr Stu Fischbein, Kemi Johnson and more.
Join us in Sydney for a film screening followed by a live Q&A panel with;
- Jo Hunter is a Sydney-based homebirth midwife and activist who has worked with birthing families since 1998, first as a doula and childbirth educator and, for the past 16+ years, as a privately practising midwife. She's a guest lecturer in midwifery and regularly presents at conferences and workshops. Jo is co-creator of Birth Time: the documentary and co-host of its companion podcast, and is Co-Director of Birth Time: the Village, a Sydney-based community hub for the Birth Time movement.
- Dr Andrew Bisits (FRACOG) — recently retired from his role as Director of Obstetrics at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, after a 40-year career in obstetrics. An Associate Professor (Conjoint) at UNSW, he's known as "the breech whisperer" for his expertise and advocacy in vaginal breech birth, and remains a respected voice for midwifery-led, collaborative maternity care.
- Donna Garland- Chief Midwife NSW Health
Across cultures and continents, birth is both a universal experience and a deeply personal journey, yet for millions it has become increasingly shaped by systems of control, risk, and intervention.
This documentary explores the global landscape of childbirth, revealing the growing maternal health crisis and the projound impact of the medicalization of birth.
Through intimate stories and cross-cultural perspectives, the film examines how modern obstetric practices (while often lifesaving) have transformed a natural process into a highly mangaged medical event. It questions whether this shift has always served mothers and babies, or if it has, in some cases, distanced them from safer, more holistic care.
At the heart of the film is the life and work of midwife and educator Kristine Lauria, whose approach offers a powerful alternative. Grounded in respect, physiology, and evidence-based care, her work challenges conventional models and reimagines what childbirth can look like when autonomy, trust, and continuity of care are prioritized.
By waving together global insights with one woman's mission, the documentary invites audiences to reconsider how we bring life into the world, and what it would take to make birth safer, more human, and more empowering for all.
Event venue & nearby stays
Ritz Cinemas, 45 Saint Pauls Street, Randwick, Australia
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