Victory for feminists and all Israeli mothers was claimed when the Government approved a bill that offers Childbirth Grant to women who give birth at home.
Tamar Zandberg, who proposed the bill, and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said in a joint statement, "The state must allow women the freedom to choose and not discriminate against those who choose to give birth at home. The purpose of the grant is to cover the first expenses for the new baby, and the place the mother chooses to give birth is not relevant to this."
The Isreal Ministerial Committee for Legislation agreed that the government will be giving women who gave birth at home the same financial support that women who give birth in hospitals receive. Before the bill was granted, the women who gave birth at home were deprived of the financial support in order to encourage births in hospitals.
Haaretz reported that the childbirth grant is 1,751 shekels ($454) for the first baby, 788 shekels for the second baby, and 525 shekels for every subsequent birth.
Homebirths in Isreal used to be rare in the past. But in recent years, more women chose to give birth at home. In 2006, there were 350 women who registered with home births. In 2007, this number doubled, as reported in Domestic Felicity.
There are currently between 600 and 800 home births in Israel every year. It would mean an additional annual annual budgetary outlay of 1.4 million shekels to be released.
Why do women choose home birth? Women reported feelings of helplessness, loneliness and frustration as they find themselves face-to-face with an uncaring establishment which routinely messes up perfectly normal births simply because they want to progress faster, or because giving drugs for pain relief is more convenient for the delivery room staff.
With the government's new grant given to mothers in home births, it is expected that the number of women opting for a home birth will rise in the coming years.
Even the United Kingdom is recommending home births. British research noted that the two modes of delivery were equally safe, but that a hospital birth had the potential for more medical interventions,
Isreali feminists are wondering why it took so long for their government to give mothers what is due of them. According to another report by Haaretz, hospital doctors in Israel succeeded in convincing the state to give them a monopoly on treatment of women giving birth. Under the National Insurance Law that came into effect in 1954, the National Insurance Institute pays the hospitals a "hospitalization grant" equivalent to about 12,000 shekels (about $3,050) for every birth, with no connection to the actual treatment the woman received.
