Call for parking for expectant mothers
Online mothers' forums are pushing for car parks to assign designated parking spots for pregnant women.
Parking spaces for parents with prams are common and are easy to enforce – you either have a pram or you don't – but there’s now a call for Australia to follow countries all over the world, which offer parking spaces specifically for pregnant women.
A number of Australian universities already offer special parking permits for pregnant women as do some private employers, but online mothers' groups are pushing for a national change.
“There are times when you are pregnant that you really need to go to the toilet or you can't walk, the baby is pushing on you and the pressure is that heavy and you really need to go and go now,” expectant mother Lorette Dyson said.
Warriewood Square Shopping Centre has denied reports it is considering dedicated parking for pregnant women as part of its redevelopment.
While it is easier to crack down on people parking in spaces designated for parents with prams, policing parking for pregnant women is much more personal.
“It's embarrassing, no one would do it, I wouldn't do it,” Parking officer Arthur Birch said.
“How can you tell if a woman is one month pregnant or eight months pregnant and showing? It's a medical issue and we're not qualified to ask question about someone's medical history.”
Earlier this year in the UK, a woman who was only eight days shy of her due date received a $130AUD parking fine at her local supermarket for parking in the ‘parent and toddler’ bay because she ‘was not accompanied’ by a child.
