Access to birth or legal action, civil penalties or refusal of access to birth due to malpractice by an individual birth photographer (whether SABPA registered or not) lie with the primary healthcare provider and the medical institution he or she works at or the parent/s.

There is no direct punishment for breaking the SABPA Oath of Conduct. SABPA does, however, hold the right for its Independent Advisory Board to remove a photographer from the SABPA Registry for breaking the oath. The oath applies to all forms of documenting a baby’s birth: photography, videography, and publishing.

You are welcome to submit questions on the code to SABPA (we will answer as and when we an), but once you have requested your exam papers no more questions will be allowed until after the examination has been completed. To support photographers, a short course called “Unpacking the SABPA Oath of Conduct” will soon be available to purchase from SABPA once they have requested their exams. The course is optional and not compulsory, but it is advisable to take as it will ultimately give you more insight into the inner workings of medicine and the humanities in the long run.