This week has been an important one in Alabama's history of midwifery. Currently in this state it is illegal and a Class C Misdemeanor charge for Certified Professional Midwives to practice. As of late, I've been involved with two groups, the Alabama Midwives' Alliance and the Alabama Birth Coalition, who are trying to decriminalize home births attended by CPMs. My papa (steve on the boards) asked me to post two things I've written this week in an effort to assist these groups in this process. So here we go! And forgive me that they are a bit long winded!
Home Birth Safety Act HB601:
It is an exciting time in Alabama for women who want the option of having a home birth attended by a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). Two events occurring in the last two weeks are important steps toward making that hope a reality.
Two weeks ago, I attended a meeting hosted by the Huntsville chapter of ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network). We heard four midwives from surrounding areas answer questions regarding out of hospital birth options for women in North Alabama. All 4 were Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) who often see clients from Alabama who birth in Tennessee. These mothers are willing to travel across state lines for midwifery care. Multiple topics were addressed in the panel discussion ,and approximately 50 women attended.
This week, the House Health Committee held a public hearing on HB601 on March 19 in Montgomery. Representative Joe Hubbard (D-Montgomery) is the sponsor. A similar bill, SB99, sponsored by Senator Paul Bussman (R-Cullman), was heard in February in the Senate Judiciary committee. It was defeated when Representative Bryan Taylor (R-Prattville) moved to table the bill and the majority agreed.
North Alabama CPM Chloe Raum said, “Mothers are going to keep having babies. One-size-fits-all hospital birth does not meet every mother’s needs. The current law does not make home birth safer. It actually increases the risks to moms and babies.” Many concerned Alabamians echo Chloe’s cries for decriminalization of CPMs; Karen Gable, a mother and grandmother in Cullman calls for women to have a choice and the right to have a midwife attend births without fear of prosecution in an interview with CBS Channel 42 in Montgomery. In an interview with the Times Daily in January, Governor Bentley said he isn’t opposed to the North AL lawmakers’ efforts to legalize midwifery as long as some rules are in place. Governor Bentley is a retired physician and knows how quickly things can go bad when emergencies go unrecognized. He also said, “I feel that midwives that at least have the proper training, that have backup so that if there are any problems, they could get the mother-in those 1 or 2 percent of births-to the hospital quickly, (then) I have no problems with that.”
It is legal for Alabama mothers to choose home birth. It is NOT legal for a licensed, nationally credentialed professional to attend and assist during birth. As explained in a previous article on the subject of midwifery, the Alabama Birth Coalition and Alabama Midwives’ Alliance have been hard at work for the last 11 years trying to legalize midwifery in out-of-hospital settings, as it once was, by licensing CPMs. It was made illegal with the passage of the nurse-midwifery law in 1976 and midwives have risked prosecution for attending births at home ever since.
In the public hearing, Representative Hubbard told the story of a 22 year-old first time mother who went into pre-term labor while on shift at McDonald’s. She went to the bathroom and another employee, the fry cook, came to help after telling someone to call 911. She was viewed as a hero for helping the mother deliver her baby. He said that if a midwife had been in the restaurant at that time and went to assist with that birth, she would have done so under the threat of criminal prosecution. It is absurd that Alabama law singles out and criminalizes midwives for simply doing their job. After the hearing this morning, Representative Hubbard posted the following quote on his Facebook page: “Thanks to all the good midwives of Alabama who showed up today for the public hearing on HB601. We should be prosecuting the real criminals, not trained and certified professionals who protect the health and safety of mothers and babies.”
Please call your Representative today and ask him or her to support HB601 by telling Health Committee members that constituents need this bill to pass.
Letter to the House Health Committee:
Dear House Health Committee Members:
Today you are hearing a proposal for the passage of a bill relating to home birth and how to make the choice safer for the women in our state who choose to go this route. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), home birth is on the rise, increasing from 1.26% in 2011 to 1.36% in 2012.The data obtained by the CDC also shows that the risk involved in out of hospital birth is lower than that of hospital births in that there are fewer births to teenage mothers, and fewer preterm, low birth weight, and multiple births (CDC, 2012). For those low risk individuals, home birth can definitely be a good choice with positive outcomes for mothers and infants. That being said, hospitals and obstetricians should handle high-risk cases.
Women have been having babies for thousands of years before hospitals existed. History shows us that until the 1900s, most babies were born at home and attended by a midwife. Midwifery is an art AND a science that has been passed down from one woman to another for thousands of years. As a Registered Nurse, I was a bit leery of the practice of midwifery before I immersed myself in learning about it. A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to better understand the practice of midwifery. At the time I was living in South Carolina and had recently graduated an Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program and had begun my Bachelors of Science of Nursing (BSN) program. Typically, ADN are two-year degree programs and it takes 2-3 additional years to complete the BSN component. As I began to look at what is involved in the study of midwifery, I became aware that the training received by a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) is typically a 3-5 year endeavor. There is both a didactic portion and a clinical portion, just as there is in nursing. As I looked at what the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) requires of their applicants, I realized that the certification and credentialing process for a CPM is much more rigorous than that of an RN. I also realized that this was a community I too wanted to join and began to research how to do so.
When I began researching Alabama law pertaining to midwives, I was surprised to learn that it is illegal for a CPM to assist a woman during childbirth. This shocked me as my research proved that home birth was indeed safe and that a CPM has more training in their field than some RNs with an associate’s degree. As a health care professional, I see the benefits of having these valuable professionals as home birth becomes more prominent and health care as we know it begins to change. These specially trained individuals are going to be invaluable to the medical community in the years to come as we learn to navigate the waters of the health care system together, especially as it relates to birth. Please make home birth safer for Alabama women by giving them access to midwifery care if they choose a home birth setting.
Home Birth Safety Act HB601:
It is an exciting time in Alabama for women who want the option of having a home birth attended by a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). Two events occurring in the last two weeks are important steps toward making that hope a reality.
Two weeks ago, I attended a meeting hosted by the Huntsville chapter of ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network). We heard four midwives from surrounding areas answer questions regarding out of hospital birth options for women in North Alabama. All 4 were Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) who often see clients from Alabama who birth in Tennessee. These mothers are willing to travel across state lines for midwifery care. Multiple topics were addressed in the panel discussion ,and approximately 50 women attended.
This week, the House Health Committee held a public hearing on HB601 on March 19 in Montgomery. Representative Joe Hubbard (D-Montgomery) is the sponsor. A similar bill, SB99, sponsored by Senator Paul Bussman (R-Cullman), was heard in February in the Senate Judiciary committee. It was defeated when Representative Bryan Taylor (R-Prattville) moved to table the bill and the majority agreed.
North Alabama CPM Chloe Raum said, “Mothers are going to keep having babies. One-size-fits-all hospital birth does not meet every mother’s needs. The current law does not make home birth safer. It actually increases the risks to moms and babies.” Many concerned Alabamians echo Chloe’s cries for decriminalization of CPMs; Karen Gable, a mother and grandmother in Cullman calls for women to have a choice and the right to have a midwife attend births without fear of prosecution in an interview with CBS Channel 42 in Montgomery. In an interview with the Times Daily in January, Governor Bentley said he isn’t opposed to the North AL lawmakers’ efforts to legalize midwifery as long as some rules are in place. Governor Bentley is a retired physician and knows how quickly things can go bad when emergencies go unrecognized. He also said, “I feel that midwives that at least have the proper training, that have backup so that if there are any problems, they could get the mother-in those 1 or 2 percent of births-to the hospital quickly, (then) I have no problems with that.”
It is legal for Alabama mothers to choose home birth. It is NOT legal for a licensed, nationally credentialed professional to attend and assist during birth. As explained in a previous article on the subject of midwifery, the Alabama Birth Coalition and Alabama Midwives’ Alliance have been hard at work for the last 11 years trying to legalize midwifery in out-of-hospital settings, as it once was, by licensing CPMs. It was made illegal with the passage of the nurse-midwifery law in 1976 and midwives have risked prosecution for attending births at home ever since.
In the public hearing, Representative Hubbard told the story of a 22 year-old first time mother who went into pre-term labor while on shift at McDonald’s. She went to the bathroom and another employee, the fry cook, came to help after telling someone to call 911. She was viewed as a hero for helping the mother deliver her baby. He said that if a midwife had been in the restaurant at that time and went to assist with that birth, she would have done so under the threat of criminal prosecution. It is absurd that Alabama law singles out and criminalizes midwives for simply doing their job. After the hearing this morning, Representative Hubbard posted the following quote on his Facebook page: “Thanks to all the good midwives of Alabama who showed up today for the public hearing on HB601. We should be prosecuting the real criminals, not trained and certified professionals who protect the health and safety of mothers and babies.”
Please call your Representative today and ask him or her to support HB601 by telling Health Committee members that constituents need this bill to pass.
Letter to the House Health Committee:
Dear House Health Committee Members:
Today you are hearing a proposal for the passage of a bill relating to home birth and how to make the choice safer for the women in our state who choose to go this route. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), home birth is on the rise, increasing from 1.26% in 2011 to 1.36% in 2012.The data obtained by the CDC also shows that the risk involved in out of hospital birth is lower than that of hospital births in that there are fewer births to teenage mothers, and fewer preterm, low birth weight, and multiple births (CDC, 2012). For those low risk individuals, home birth can definitely be a good choice with positive outcomes for mothers and infants. That being said, hospitals and obstetricians should handle high-risk cases.
Women have been having babies for thousands of years before hospitals existed. History shows us that until the 1900s, most babies were born at home and attended by a midwife. Midwifery is an art AND a science that has been passed down from one woman to another for thousands of years. As a Registered Nurse, I was a bit leery of the practice of midwifery before I immersed myself in learning about it. A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to better understand the practice of midwifery. At the time I was living in South Carolina and had recently graduated an Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program and had begun my Bachelors of Science of Nursing (BSN) program. Typically, ADN are two-year degree programs and it takes 2-3 additional years to complete the BSN component. As I began to look at what is involved in the study of midwifery, I became aware that the training received by a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) is typically a 3-5 year endeavor. There is both a didactic portion and a clinical portion, just as there is in nursing. As I looked at what the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) requires of their applicants, I realized that the certification and credentialing process for a CPM is much more rigorous than that of an RN. I also realized that this was a community I too wanted to join and began to research how to do so.
When I began researching Alabama law pertaining to midwives, I was surprised to learn that it is illegal for a CPM to assist a woman during childbirth. This shocked me as my research proved that home birth was indeed safe and that a CPM has more training in their field than some RNs with an associate’s degree. As a health care professional, I see the benefits of having these valuable professionals as home birth becomes more prominent and health care as we know it begins to change. These specially trained individuals are going to be invaluable to the medical community in the years to come as we learn to navigate the waters of the health care system together, especially as it relates to birth. Please make home birth safer for Alabama women by giving them access to midwifery care if they choose a home birth setting.
