Crimes Amendment (Prohibiting Shackling During Childbirth) Bill 2026
Senator THORPE (Victoria—Independent VIC Whip) (16:42): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill. Leave granted.
Senator THORPE: I table an explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech read as follows— The Crimes Amendment (Prohibiting Shackling During Childbirth) Bill 2026 ends the shackling of people during childbirth.
No one giving birth is at risk of running away. The main concern during childbirth is to get the medical care needed and ensure a safe delivery. Anyone who has given birth would agree that to be shackled whilst giving birth would be an incredibly violent and terrifying act.
Many jurisdictions have policies or guidelines that restrict or prohibit shackling during childbirth, but they usually contain exemption provisions which unfortunately often result in shackling being applied anyway: people are cuffed to their hospital bed by an arm and a leg in the delivery room, their legs shackled together by a chain. Federal legislation is needed to end this.
Shackling people during childbirth is cruel, inhumane, degrading and traumatic. It strips people of their dignity during one of the most difficult and important experiences a person can go through. Giving birth is already one of the most physically and emotionally intense experiences a person can have.
Giving birth in prison or any other custodial setting compounds this. Giving birth while being shackled compounds it further still. There have been no reports of people who are not restrained attempting to escape during childbirth, including in jurisdictions where this practice does not occur.
The claim that shackling prevents escape or lowers the risk of harm by the parent during childbirth is simply not supported by evidence. Shackling people during childbirth is medically harmful—both to the parent and to the baby. It can result in death.
During labour, being unable to move can cause complications in delivery, including haemorrhage and a drop in foetal heart rate. If any emergency measures are needed—such as an emergency caesarean—a delay of even a few minutes resulting from shackling or unshackling a person can lead to permanent brain damage for the baby and a risk to the baby's life. To be healthy and safe, a person in labour must have the mobility to be able to assume various positions.
Further, restraints interfere with the ability of medical staff to assess the physical condition of both parent and child, further putting both at risk. The American Medical Association has called the practice "barbaric" and "medically hazardous." Shackling people during childbirth is inconsistent with this country's commitments under international law, including the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), which ban shackling during labour; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and requires all persons deprived of liberty to be treated with dignity and respect; and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits any act where severe pain or suffering is intentionally inflicted.
Many organisations and statutory bodies in this country have called for an end to this cruel practice, including multiple commissioners and Ombudsman schemes, medical organisations such as the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Australian Medical Association, and non-government organisations such as Amnesty International, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, the Human Rights Law Centre and Sisters Inside.
Shackling during childbirth still happens Australia-wide. It is completely unnecessary and ineffective, while being dangerous for both parent and child. State and territory policies have not successfully ended it—federal legislation is now needed to do so.
It is time to end this inhumane, dangerous and unnecessary practice. Senator THORPE: I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned.