Legislative Update

On Tuesday, March 11, 2008, House Bill 488, the Idaho Midwifery Voluntary Licensure Act, was pulled from the Idaho House of Representatives' legislative calendar. Efforts toward revised legislation for next session are ongoing.

The voluntary licensure act would:

Offer parents the ability to choose a licensed or non-licensed provider.
Give parents better access to third party reimbursement.
Make midwife services easier to obtain through state referral.
Make available a license to practice midwifery, for those midwives who choose to become licensed, based on the CPM credential. (Note that midwifery is already legal by statute).
Give licensed midwives the ability to legally administer eye ointment, oxygen, and other potentially life-saving medications.
Give CPMs the ability to practice within their certification guidelines.
Provide protection to physicians and other health care professionals during consultation, collaboration and transfer of care.

Legislation Links

Check out the following sites for more information about midwifery legislation:

Idahoans for Midwives — http://www.idahoansformidwives.org/news.html
Idaho Midwifery Council — http://www.idahomidwives.org/legislation.htm
Boise Weekly Article on Voluntary Midwifery Licensure — http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A311106
Idaho Statesman Op-Ed on Voluntary Midwifery Licensure — http://www.idahostatesman.com/readersopinion/story/280812.html

The Mother/Baby Group

The Mother/Baby group continues to meet each Wednesday morning at the birth center from 10 am - 12 noon. This group of new moms and new babies is very informal and gets together for discussion and sharing concerns and ideas. Rhonda Boar is the group's facilitator. All moms and babies are welcome to attend. Call 343-2079 if you want any more information.

National Perinatal Association Supports Choice of Planned Home Birth

The National Perinatal Association (NPA) has released a position paper supporting the right of families to choose their birth settings. The NPA cites multiple studies which validate the safety of planned home birth. The position paper is available at: http://www.nationalperinatal.org/advocacy/pdf/Choice-of-Birth-Setting.pdf.

Homebirth is Safe

There is much evidence to support the safety of homebirths for women with low-risk pregnancies. Several Canadian medical societies and the American Public Health Association have adopted policies which promote or acknowledge the viability of homebirth.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), however, continues to oppose homebirth. On February 6, 2008, the ACOG issued issued a statement decrying out-of-hospital birth. Childbirth Connection, a non-profit group for maternity care reform, posted the following rebuttal: http://www.childbirthconnection.com/article.asp?ck=10465.

A study published by the British Medical Journal (http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416?ehom) confirms the safety of homebirth attended by Certified Professional Midwives. Planned homebirth for low-risk women, using Certified Professional Midwives, is associated with lower rates of medical intervention than low-risk hospital birth. The rates of intrapartum and neonatal mortality are similar.

Idahoans for Midwives

Nearly 1000 families belong to Idahoans for Midwives, a consumer-driven organization dedicated to ensuring safe birth options in Idaho. In the next few months, we are going to be encouraging all of you to write a letter to your legislators. Please look them up at http://www.votesmart.org. You can enter your 9-digit zip code (found on a magazine or junk mail) and it will give you all the information you will need. Write a letter and tell them why you want them to vote yes on the Idaho Midwifery Voluntary Licensure Act. If you want to see a sample letter, go to http://www.idahoansformidwives.org/news.html. It will make a huge impact if they receive a lot of letters and the sooner the better.

The Business of Being Born

This documentary film by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein gives a look at childbirth in America, both currently and historically. They question today's high intervention and c-section rates in hospitals, and they follow couples who have chosen to give birth at home with midwives. The film also follows Ricki's and Abby's own pregnancies and births. Ricki had a waterbirth at home with her second child after the birth of her first in a hospital. Abby learned she was pregnant with her first child while making the film. Abby and Ricki end up with two very different stories. The film is currently available on Netflix.