Obstetricians say forcing women to take out top-level health insurance for pregnancy and birth is gender discrimination and they’ve taken the matter to the Australian Human Rights Commission. 

Associate Professor Gino Pecoraro says it is the only service excluded from lower-level health insurance based on a patient’s sex, with the restriction threatening the future viability of private obstetrics.

“It’s [also] criminal in a country that prides itself on trying to eliminate gender discrimination,” added Dr Pecoraro, president of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

He said the association made a complaint to the commission a year ago but its response was disappointing.