ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Hundreds of midwives protested in Athens Thursday over new restrictions on how they work in hospitals that mean they will not be able to deliver babies without a doctor’s supervision.

“The attack on midwives is an attack against all women,” chanted the protesters.

They handed more than 2,000 letters to Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis from outraged women who had given birth naturally with the help of midwives.

The demonstration was called after the health ministry published the decision, but Georgiadis has since said he wants to look again at the policy.

Ioanna Vassilakis, head of the Greek Association of Independent Midwives, said the decision “will only reinforce the medicalisation of childbirth”.

According to Vassilakis, it would also lead to more caesarian sections in Greece, which accounts for 65 per cent of births — the highest in Europe.

Vassilakis told AFP the move would also “deepen the public health insurance deficit with expensive procedures”.

One protester, student midwife Charoula Idari, said the high number of caesarean sections was partly down to the fact that “private hospitals charge more” for them.

The World Health Organization estimates that beyond a rate of 15 per cent, most caesarean sections are not necessary.

“In Greece, the medicalisation of childbirth doesn’t stop there,” added Vassilakis.

She said 11.6 per cent of babies in Greece were born prematurely after a medically induced birth — compared to an average of 6.2 per cent in the rest of the European Union, while the ban on midwives overseeing births in health centres was also dangerous for women who live far from hospitals, on islands or in mountainous regions.

“Transporting them by helicopter or leaving them alone cannot be the solution,” she argued.

Nadia Konstantinou, who gave birth three times with the help of Vassilakis, called for all women to take to the streets.

“It’s about our bodies, our choices,” she said, adding: “Without a midwife, there’s no possibility of a non-violent birth.”