Women's Decision-Making And Factors Affecting Their Choice Of ...

Previous committees had made their recommendations on the basis of more safety
for mother and baby (Department of Health and Social Security 1970; House of
Commons Social Services Committee 1980). This committee was different from
its predecessors because it was made up members of parliament of all parties, and
it had an advisory panel named in the opening paragraph of the discussion of the
report above, which helped to interpret the evidence.
The committee heard evidence and views from a wide spectrum of
organisations and individuals representing the views of women. For example,
they considered Mrs Marjorie Tew's analysis of statistical evidence, which led her
to conclude that there was no causal connection between the fall in mortality rates
in the 1950s and hospitalisation. Tew was challenged on her assertion that there
was a negative correlation in the decrease in perinatal mortality rates and
increases in the level of hospitalisation. However, her work is thought to have set
in motion the search for the truth about the safety of home and hospital births
(House of Commons Health Committee 1992).
The work of Campbell and Macfarlane, together with their critique of
Tew's work was also considered. Campbell and Macfarlane, in their submission
to the committee, expressed the view that there is no evidence in support of the
claim that the safest policy was for all women to give birth in hospital. The Royal
College of Midwives (RCM), the Association of Radical Midwives, Maternity
Alliance, NCT, Association for Community-Based Maternity Care and the
Association for Improvements in Maternity Services, echoed the view and gave
evidence to the Winterton committee.
The review was carried out in just less than a year, and the committee's
analysis of the evidence from individual women and organisations representing
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