Homebirthing Families in MS Need Us NOW!

"Action isn't a burden to be hoisted up and lugged around on our shoulders. It is something we are. The work we have to do can be seen as a kind of coming alive. More than some moral imperative, it's an awakening to our true nature, a releasing of our gifts."  ~ Joanna Macy

Where were you when you found out that the state of MS was about to pass a law to outlaw direct entry (non-nurse) midwifery?
Twenty months ago, I recieved an email from my midwife alerting me that there was a fast moving effort in Jackson to restrict midwifery to nurse midwives only.  The law would outlaw the midwives who care for home birthing families.  Amazingly, the supporters of home birth in MS joined hands across the state and built a wall to stop that law from going any further.  Organizations across the country were impressed with our fast action. Where do we stand now?

We have been building relationships - with legislators, Department of Health, MS Nurses Association.  Here it is bluntly:  If we don't get this bill passed to license midwives, someone else is going to get a bill passed to make direct entry midwives illegal.  We have to pass the "Midwife Standrds Act" which requires midwives optain the CPM credention to be a Licensed MS Midwife. We have done a lot of work to make sure we have the very best law in the US.  One that improves home birth for mothers and babies while elevating the profession of midwifery.

To accomplish this, I need you each to take a moment to reflect.  What will MS be like in 10 years if the "Midwife Standards Act" is passed?  What if ACOG gets its way and puts an end to direct entry midwives?  I have a pretty clear picture in my mind of what I want to see for MS families.  Just talk to a midwife or homebirth family in one of the 26 states that has licensed midwives, like FL or TN.  Ask them what acess to and care from idwives is like in their state.

What is your role in this? 

To pass the "Midwife Standards Act" we need help from every corner of the state. We need YOU to contact your legislators right now to let them know how important this issue is to their constituents.  Personally, I am working my way from my own district out to other areas - calling legislators.   I am willing to spend several days a week in Jackson while they are in session (January-April).  However, I have had to ask myself, what will I do if we don't have money to pay for these trips?  I have turned down opportunities for paid work, so that I can dedicate more time to this.  So, I am already working with a reduced income.  In addition to the countless hours I dedicate, how much can I take from my family's budget to pass this legislation?

I am asking for your help.  There are several states working on passing similar legislation with big budgets and paid lobbyists.  Thankfully, we have a few families that are donating enough time to be "lobbyists."  We work on a very small budget.  Please read the options below and think about how your family can help the families on MS for generations to come.

Thank you, Bianca Wooden
Co-Founder and President
Contact me anytime: 228.233.0686, me@biancawooden.com

Can you offer your time?
1 min: CLick on "Update your Preferences" at the bottom of this email and make sure we have your address and phone number.

5 min: Forward this email to a friend that wants to keep homebirth legal

15 min: Write a note to your Senator or Representative and tell them how much the "Midwife Standards Act" means to you.

30 min: Call your Senator or Representative and tell them how much the "Midwife Standards Act" means to you
1 hour: Join a board member for a meeting with your Senator or Representative
5 hours: Set up a booth at a local park or farmers market to spread the word.
20 hours: Volunteer to be our "Fundraising Coordinator" and organize an online fundraising effort.

Can you donate money?
$3: Send you a bumper sticker so you let others know about us.
$10: Stamps and envelopes to mail 15 letters to legislators.
$20: Make 200 flyers to distribute to legislators.
$30: Gas for a board member to drive to Jackson (just one way).
$100: Hotel room for a board member to spend the night in Jackson.

Other: Donate an item or service for a fundraising auction.

Yes, You Really Need to Go to Jackson!!



Mississippi Friends of Midwives is pushing you to go to Jackson and you might be wondering why.

 Aren’t the calls and emails enough?

 Aren’t other people going and talking to the legislators?

Before we answer those questions, let's have a mini history lesson...

Last year, a bill was introduced that would have restricted childbirth attendants to OBs and CNMs (Certified Nurse Midwives) in hospitals. This would have made the Direct Entry Midwives (DEMs) that attend home births in MS illegal. The bill went right through the House of Representatives and over to the Senate without hesitation. Just then, word spread to the home birthing families in MS about the legislation and there was a strong outcry against the bill. Senators let the bill “die in committee” by not bringing it up for a vote by the deadline.

Fast forward exactly one year….After a lot of hard work by MS Friends of Midwives and the MS Midwives Alliance, House Bill (HB) 207 has been passed by the house and now sits in the hands of the very same, Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee with that same deadline approaching, March 1^st. (Learn more about the bill and why it is important here: http://biancawooden.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-do-we-need-hb207.html

So, to answer those questions,

Yes, there are a handful of the same people that have been to the Capitol repeatedly to speak with Legislators.

And, NO, at this point in the process, calls and emails are NOT enough!!

Let me tell you why.

The Medical community is at the Capitol every day lobbying AGAINST our bill. Women in Mississippi have enjoyed the right to birth at home with the care provider of their choice since the beginning of time. However, there are organizations in our state (such as the Mississippi State Medical Association and the Mississippi Nursing Association) that are working to see that right taken away and limited to their services in their hospitals. The organizations that tried to make home birth illegal last year did not and will not give up. They are working to kill our “pro-homebirth” bill and rest assured, they will take another shot at eradicating it next year.



We need your help to make a change.

 The legislators of MS are somewhat supportive of home birth and are willing to consider a law to recognize midwives and their role in the maternity care system.

We have some momentum, but we need to keep it going and gain the favor of the Senators.

The deadline for the bill to come out of committee and be voted upon by the Senate is March 1^st.

If we can’t convince the Senators in the Public Health and Welfare committee to bring this bill up for a vote, it dies.

All of our hard work and money is lost.

And, our opposition will be poised to make direct entry midwives illegal next year.

The future of midwifery care is in your hands.

I know you are busy and taking care of a hundred responsibilities.

So are we.

But, this is your chance to make a real difference in our state.

 It is the consumers that have the power to make this change, not the midwives.

The Senators are asking  to speak with their own constituents on the Midwife Safety Bill.

Lobbyists are at the Capitol EVERY DAY trying to kill this bill with faulty information and telling our Legislators that home birth in unsafe and should not be "approved" by the State by allowing this bill to pass.

 Are you going to let them stamp down families that support the right to birth at home?

We KNOW the system of maternity care needs to move forward and accept women who choose to birth at home and that by providing these minimum standards for midwives, we make that choice more credible to the consumer.

 Do something about it!

You may be saying to yourself, "I want to go. I want to help, but I just can't".

Well, we are here to help!

Let us know your reasons for not being able to go...

financial reasons, transportation, childcare, uncomfortable talking to Senators, have more questions about the bill...whatever your dilemma, Mississippi Friends of Midwives Board Members are available to help.

Contact us via email, facebook or by phone (numbers below & on our Contact Us page).

Let us help you get to Jackson!

Our state legislature is in session for 12 weeks.

We are halfway through with a SPRINT to the finish line.

THIS WEEK IS THE MOST CRITICAL TIME TO BE AT THE CAPITOL.

Our opposition will be there, will you???

RSVP HERE

Bianca Wooden: 228.233.0686
Vanessa Dudley: 228.282.3346

Mandi Sanders: 662.791.1663

Motion to Reconsider HB207 Filed!

Update: The Public Health Chariman Rep. Steve Holland requested the Motion to Reconsider be tabled. The House was in agreement, so the motion was table. HB207 moves on to the Senate!

No sooner than HB207 PASSED the House of Representative in our Great State, Rep. Sidney Bondurant, an OB/GYN from Grenada, has filed a Motion to Reconsider. He also spoke in opposition to the bill when it was before the House spewing a slew of misinformation from the Wax Study that had nothing to do with the benefit of requiring the CPM credential for midwives to serve the public in Mississippi. Instead, he essentially wanting to make this a home birth safety issue.

Please contact your Representatives- TODAY!!
Let these Legislators know that we want their Support for HB207 and "yes" vote as it Passed the House yesterday and we do NOT want it to be reconsidered.
Here are several quick Facts Sheets with Talking Points for your Representative:
Midwives Safety Act HB207: Fact Sheet
Midwives Safety Act HB207: Home Birth Safety Facts
The Big Push Wax Study One-Pager
Midwives Safety Act HB207: Cost Savings

This is an quick way to search for your Representative  and here is the link to find their contact information.

You can listen to the House debate here. Included in the video is Mississippi Friends of Midwives rebuttal and explanatory notes. 

HB207 Subcommittee Hearing

 Here's our treasurer, Bianca Wooden's story from yesterday's subcommitte hearing in which HB207 passed with very favorable amendments.

At 2pm today, I walked into the Public Health and Human Services subcommittee hearing, exhausted. I had spent Sunday baking brownies, making copies of handouts, and packing up everything I needed to host a “Meet & Greet” in the Rotunda at the state capitol. Sunday night was long one, with 5 of us piled into a Jackson hotel room, one very fussy baby, and my thoughts racing. Monday morning came around too soon – up and out the door for 2 radio interviews. Admittedly, kind of exciting, but stress inducing none the less. ( I mean, how can a regular mom like me who can’t even complete an entire grocery list in one trip, represent the feelings of the 500 supporters of Mississippi Friends of Midwives and also convince the radio listeners that they support HB207.) Then, off to the capitol to serve snacks and refreshments to the folks passing through the rotunda……The next few hours were a blur……talking to people, chasing 1 year old Caprie and wondering what on earth a state congressional hearing is like.

So, I plopped down in the seat in Room 103 unsure what I would say or if I even had the energy to form a sentence. This was my first time attending a hearing. It was even my first time speaking to a representative in person. I am not a lobbyist or activist. But, this bill is important to me, so I renegotiated my duties and have squeezed this in to my list of responsibilities. Of the 16 members of the subcommittee, only 3 were present for the hearing today.

Thankfully, there were at least 10 other women there today who did the same thing. They spent up to 8 hours in the car to drive there and back, they found babysitters, they rearranged their budget to find gas money, they took time off work, they made this a priority. Several women spoke in support of the bill: consumers, midwives, student midwives. They spoke honestly and from their heart - the passion shined through. The main message was what we have been saying all along.
• Women give birth at home and hire direct entry midwives, the women of MS deserve a system that will allow them to verify the competency of a midwife and file a grievance against incompetent midwives.

• MS needs direct entry midwives , but we need to define what a direct entry midwife is exactly, and it makes sense to use the NARM (North American Registry of Midwives) recommended CPM (Certified Professional Midwife). We didn’t want this law to eliminate the midwives currently practicing, but we do want to move forward to improving our standards.

• Currently practicing midwives are vulnerable to prosecution under our current legal situation. In other states similar to our, midwives have been arrested and jailed.

• By having a law that defines a direct entry midwife, our state will be more protected against opposing forces introducing a law to restrict births to hospital only.

After we got those points across, the Department of Health (DOH) spoke. First, they recognized that direct entry midwives and home birthing families have a place in MS and the DOH wants that practice to continue. Everyone in the room seemed to agree with that. Next, what they said made me nervous. She went on to explain that the DOH currently regulates 17 professions and it is a very expensive and intensive process to do. She said, there would have to be OB oversight and they simply don’t have the money to do this. Well, this was news to me, because how I had understood the bill, a volunteer board made of midwives, consumers and a Dr. would handle all that. The bill was written specifically so that it would not cost money or need oversight – It was to be a self regulated by the Midwives Board. The DOH held strong that if it is under their wing, they are required to oversee it – and that means OBs regulating home birth. I don’t think any one in the room wanted that . Certainly not me, and not the legislators or the DOH.

Then, Rep. Omeria Scott started brainstorming a bit. How can we accomplish all these goals at no cost and keep the DOH out of it? After some back and forth questioning, she proposed that we simplify. She suggested that the state require all midwives obtain a CPM credential. Those CPM are required to “Register” with the DOH (a Registration, not a License). And, since almost all currently practicing midwives are not CPMs, give them until 2015 to become a CPM. That’s it.

Well, HECK YEAH, Of course thats what we want. That is what we wanted all along, all that other hoopla was in there because we thought we needed that to get the bill passed.
I walked out the door, ecstatic. Thrilled with the amended bill. If passed, this bill would improve the midwifery care in our state, it would establish a career path for women to become midwives, it would protect us from incompetent midwives using our state as a safe-haven and it would provide a little protection against a bill to make direct entry midwives illegal. (see note at the end).

So , now what? Honestly, my husband is wondering when I am going to get back to my regular work – keeping the laundry clean, the fridge full, homework completed and dinner on the table. My 6 year old wants her full time mommy back. And Caprie doesn’t want to spend 6 hours in the car again. Family, you are going to have to wait a little longer. I am going to give this all I have got. I don’t think I will be able to do it again anytime soon, so I must capitalize on the momentum we have to keep going. I can't do it alone. I can't do it with the dozen or so women that are fully engaged. We need more people or all is lost.

Here is the Reality. This amended bill needs to heard and voted on by the full Public Health and Human Services committee no later than Tuesday, Feb 1st. That is a house rule. Then, there are more steps (each with deadlines). If passed by the Committee, it will go to the floor of the House for a vote. Then, it moves to the Senate where it goes to Subcommittee, then Committee, then the floor of the Senate. This all happens by the end of March – 10 weeks.

I learned today that calls and emails are great. (Rep. Coleman told me before the meeting, “I don’t know how I feel about this bill, but I got a lot of emails about it, so I am going to hear what you have to say.”) And, it is important to have media coverage (The Legislators pay attention to what is in the media, the morning radio piece was even referenced in the hearing). But, it is CRITICAL that people show up in Jackson when there is a vote (like today). A friend of mine, had her 3 children in the car for 6 hours today and didn’t speak at the hearing, but her presence in the room meant a lot to those Representatives.

We need you!!!! My next post will explain EXACLTY how you can help.

Note: During the hearing the Representatives insisted that they would NEVER let home birth be eliminated from our state, they would always protect midwives and home birth. There was an immediate uproar, “YOU voted to outlaw homebirth last year in this very committee.” 2010 HB695 passed through the subcommittee, committee and to the house floor where it was voted in by a very large margin. They apologized for that. : )

The "Why's" of Our Midwifery Bill

Many questions have been raised lately as to why we want to actively pursue government regulation of midwives when currently Mississippi does not. 

The answer is simple.

Protection.

Under current laws, any one can claim to be a midwife and practice midwifery.

Because of this, many midwives who have lost their right to practice midwifery in other states for one reason or another come to our state to set up shop.

These are the same midwives that prompted last year's bill from the Nursing Board that essentially would have made homebirth illegal and only hospital-based Certified Nurse Midwives legal.

Three such midwives had come in from other states where they had previously lost their license and begin a practice in Mississippi. 

Three bad midwives with bad outcomes...

Not a pretty picture.

That's why our bill is SO important.

It will instill confidence in the consumer in their health care provider.

One of our supporters composed this lovely email with her perspective on the importance of the passage of this bill and the regulation/licensure of Certified Professional Midwives:

To the honorable members of the Mississippi State House of Representatives Public Health and Human Services Subcommittee #2,

I write to you to urge your support for HB207, which would regulate the practice of Certified Professional Midwives in the state of Mississippi.... I am a Registered Nurse with a particular interest in the area of women's health and midwifery.

Women will choose to birth at home for a variety of reasons, and they will do so regardless of what statutes are in place. It is our responsibility to ensure that home birth is a safe choice for the sake of the health of these women and the babies they give birth to. 

Regulating and credentialing Certified Professional Midwives ensures that the women of Mississippi who choose a home birth (as they have a constitutionally supported right to) will have access to a knowledgeable practitioner, and not be tak...en advantage of by unskilled, untrained fly-by-night practitioners. It will also help ensure continuity of care in the event that a home to hospital transfer becomes necessary.

Home birth has been shown to be a safe practice in many countries. In recent years, for example, a few Australian teaching hospitals have begun umbrella homebirth programs with Nurse Midwives in attendance, and the outcomes are comparable to hospital based birthing.

Please support the passage of this bill for the health and safety of all women of childbearing age in Mississippi, and to support and uphold their right of choice.

Yours truly,

Virginia Becker, RN

Have YOU contacted these committee members?

Please take 5 minutes to do so.

We will have our first hearing before these members on Monday at 2 p.m. and they need to come into the meeting feeling the pressure to support HB207!!

Need email addresses? Here they are and ready to easily copy and paste to send one mass email to all the subcommittee members.

Now, you have no excuse ;)

oscott@house.ms.gov; tbarker@house.ms.gov; bmoak@house.ms.gov; bmoak@locnet.net; gflaggs@house.ms.gov; jsmith@house.ms.gov; jread@house.ms.gov; wjones@house.ms.gov; ffredericks@house.ms.gov; cespy@house.ms.gov; bcurrie@house.ms.gov; mcoleman@house.ms.gov; treynolds@house.ms.gov; beaton@house.ms.gov; jevans@house.ms.gov; bbroomfield@house.ms.gov

Get Thee to the Capitol!

It is so very important that as many of us as possible take the time and physically go to the Capitol and meet with our Legislators. It may seem intimidating to some, but remember they are employed by us and for us.

Their job depends on you! 

One of our board members, Charis Delatte, took the opportunity to go to the Capitol today to distribute the goodie bags we made at the Push Party this past Saturday. She was accompanied by 2 of our other members and their children as well as her own daughter.

Here is a summary of her visit today as well as some pointers for future visitors:

Mississippi Friends of Midwives Members with Rep. Steve Holland

My First Visit to the Capitol

Let me begin by saying that I missed the politickin' genes of my family. I don't typically get jazzed up about shaking hands and convincing people to stand behind what I'm selling.

Today I made my first visit to the capitol to talk with as many of the Board of Public Health and Human Services members as I could. I took some notes from this visit and I'd like to share them with you. These are specific to our own state capitol building and may not apply anywhere else.

1. Dress appropriately - Southern politicians, their aides and secretaries all dress well. They seem surprised to see women NOT dressed like they're supposed to be there.

2. Be as organized and thorough as possible before you go. - This is likely a no brainer to most, but I thought I had it all together when I left the house.

3. If you are handing out packets, goodie bags, or any other paraphernalia, have the names and office numbers of each person you intend to see written ON the package. Go a step further and put them in numerical order by floor and room number. This will avoid looking at your "list" and getting funny looks from standers-by.

4. Bring your kiddo if you must, but leave the stroller at home. I thought I was doing myself a favor by having it, but the offices that these folks work in are SO SMALL! and the elevator is too. Even with just my umbrella stroller it was too much. Use a carrier instead.

5. Don't leave your self-confidence at the door. There are security checks, sideways glances, annoyed secretaries, and men in bow-ties! Remember why you are there, and that these people work for you! A little lipstick doesn't hurt either.

6. You don't have to do it alone. Call a friend, a board member, a sister, a husband. Take someone with you to remind yourself that you're not the "only" person who is in favor of this!

7. Cell Phone reception is not good, and they really aren't allowed anyway. I took my smart phone hoping to not fiddle with paper as much, but the signal was so bad that it took WAAAAY longer than looking up the information on a sheet of paper would. Better yet, just see #3

8. Try not to panic when the politicians kiss your kid. It's what they do.

Good Luck,

Charis Delatte