Free the Midwives

I am so far behind in everything related to midwifery and politics as of late. I have been following the progress of the midwifery legislation in the court system. Following is an excerpt from an email from my friend Mary Ueland about where things stand and how we can all pitch in and help! It is amazing how so many have stepped up and helped with funding. We were able to pay down the legal bill she is referring to, but the bills won't stop until the case is over and done with. We still have a long way to go.

You only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free.
Clarence Darrow

Dear Friends, Supporters, & Miscellaneous "Bad Guys" that end up on the Lists,

We are still waiting to hear exactly when the Missouri Supreme Court will take up the midwifery law case, but it looks like it will definitely be after the first of the year. Our side has until Thanksgiving to get all of their legal briefs filed with the Supreme Court, then the other side has 30 days to file respondents briefs... and then, and then... as you know, court cases move very slowly.

I know that some of you pregnant women are anxiously waiting to know if your midwives will be legal by your due date. And I know others of you find the court case to be taking an excruciatingly long time....

During this waiting time, there is much to be done and much has been occurring around the state and across the nation. In our state, many positive things have been occurring. We continue to receive positive coverage of the midwifery issue - most recently the front page of the Kansas City Star -
http://www.kansascity.com/105/v-print/story/307680.html


Thanks to the time and effort that many, many people have put in, fund raisers and public awareness events have been occurring around the state.

~Several weeks ago, the Stockton area homebirth families sold baked goods at the local "Walnut Days" festival and raised over $500!
~Two weeks ago, the Springfield area homebirth families held a fund raising garage/bake sale, raising over $500 and, at the same time, educating everyone who stopped by about midwives.
~This weekend (Saturday, Oct. 27, 9 am), the Kansas City area homebirth families are hosting a fund raiser in Kansas City. They will be showing the Business of Being Born (Rikki Lake's new documentary on birth and midwives) and holding a silent auction, bake sale and round table discussion. If you would like to attend (Tickets in advance - $20), or have friends or family who might, please contact Cheryl - cheryl@kchomebirth.com or call 913-722-1721.
The St. Louis area homebirth families are planning a "Trivia Night" and silent auction Saturday, December 8, at the Ethical Society in St Louis and have hopes of raising several thousand dollars. If you would like to attend or donate to the silent auction, contact Samanda Rossi at: fommsrossi@sbcglobal.net.

Across the nation, though, there has been an unfortunate increase in midwifery arrests, prosecutions, and investigations. We are all wondering if the American Medical Association's SOPP (Scope of Practice Partnership, recently created to specifically target practitioners like midwives who they feel are making headway into their turf) is at least partially responsible for this sudden increase in midwifery prosecutions.

As a result, a group of birth and midwifery activists from around the country will be meeting in mid-November to talk about what we can do to stem the tide and increasingly hostile climate for midwives in certain states. Missouri will be well represented at the meetings and we'll keep you posted as we make plans to combat this and work together on the national front. We believe this truth:
"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Benjamin Franklin

Meanwhile, in spite of all the other stuff going on, our attorneys must keep plugging along at our case. They very generously agreed be flexible and waive the interest on our bills for now. However, we need to pay down our current bill before they are willing to proceed with the case.
We issued a challenge several weeks ago, needing $17,000. To date, we have paid that bill down to $11,000. But this bill MUST BE PAID by the first of next week in order to stay in the case heading to the Missouri Supreme Court!

A very generous family has stepped forward and agreed to match your donations THIS WEEK ONLY for up to $5,500! If we can raise $5,500 this week, they will match it, and we will have our bill paid up to date.

If you have not donated recently, please consider donating at this crucial time. If you don't have $500 to give, perhaps you can donate what is in your change jar. Perhaps you are willing to forgo buying another pair of shoes, and instead send in the money you would have spent on them. Or perhaps your mother-in-law could donate some money or sell her famous pumpkin pies...

Everyone can donate something.
Think about it - what can you give this week?

Donate online at: www.freethemidwives.org
OR by check or money order:
Free the Midwives
PO Box 2319
Rolla, MO 65402

Thank you all so much!

Sincerely and Gratefully,
Mary Ueland


History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats. - Bertie C. Forbes

Article inThe Daily Star-Journal, Warrensburg, MO

Following is an article written after I did an interview with the local paper. It even made the front page!
-deanna

Permission granted from Skye Cobb of The Daily Star-Journal to post in its entirety.
Local Woman Lobbies For Midwife Bill In Senate And House
By SKYE COBB
Star-Journal Staff Writer
A local woman is working hard to get a midwifery bill passed in the
Missouri State Senate and House.
Missouri Senate Bill 303 and House Bill 503 would create a Board of
Direct-Entry Midwives within the Division of Professional Registration.
This board would consist of three Certified Professional Midwives, one
physician, and one public member. Senate Bill 303 would allow the state to
regulate who is practicing with the power to issue licenses and to suspend,
revoke or deny the license of a direct-entry midwife.
Currently in Missouri it is a felony for a midwife to deliver a baby at
home and there are organizations, such as Friends of Missouri Midwives,
Missouri Midwives Association and the Show Me Freedom in Health Care
Political Action Committee who are attempting to give the choice of where a
baby is born back to the mother.
Deanna Jurkowski is lobbying at the capitol for the passage of this
bill, which would allow mothers in Missouri the choice of where their baby
is born.
Jurkowski said that midwifery is legal, or not illegal, in 40 states and
that by making it illegal and unavailable, it is increasing the number of
unattended home births that occur, often with no one there who knows how to
stop a hemorrhage or resuscitate a baby.
She said she has been working for three years to get this bill passed.
According to Jurkowski, the Missouri Medical Association is coming out
strongly against this bill.
"It's all volunteers," said Jurkowski. "We do not have a paid lobbyist.
We're a grassroots movement. We've been working diligently for the last
three years."
The bill has passed the House twice before and was blocked in the Senate
both times. This time Jurkowski said she believes it's getting farther in
the Senate because legislators know more about the midwife profession.
"We've gotten farther than we've ever gotten before," said Jurkowski.
"We've perfected the bill; now we're waiting on the roll call vote. Sens.
(Chuck) Graham and (Yvonne) Wilson have said they're going to filibuster so
we're just not sure what's going to happen from this point on."
She said that she has talked with Sen. Chris Koster and that in the past
he's been supportive, but this year he's been much more supportive.
"We're not sure but with enough work, we're pretty sure we could pass
the House again," said Jurkowski.
She is somewhat worried about a lot of new people in the House. She said
that getting this bill passed is not only about getting information out
there, but combating the misconceptions of what a midwife does.
"There are people who think that midwives will perform abortions and
that's not true," said Jurkowski. "All a midwife is there for is to provide
care during a normal pregnancy. They do prenatal care and the child birth,
check on the mother afterwards, but if anything comes up that is outside of
normal, they will transfer that patient to the hospital."
Jurkowski said that she has had an illegal home birth, but in Illinois,
not in Missouri.
"That child died," said Jurkowski. "But that child died because she had
a heart defect, she had surgery and something happened during the surgery."
In the subsequent investigation the doctor reported to the coroner's
report that the child had had a home birth and that it was a lack of
prenatal care.
"Well we could produce prenatal records, but we had to cross off all
identifying information about our midwife because they actually hunt down
and prosecute midwives in Illinois," said Jurkowski.
She said that right now if a mom chooses to have a home birth and
something goes wrong she has to call 911 and the midwife has to leave
because she'll be arrested and prosecuted.
"Women are choosing to take that risk anyway," said Jurkowski. "If this
bill passes it's going to license and regulate these midwives. We're going
to have a standard of care. They're going to be licensed. If something comes
up where there is a transport needed the midwife can go to the hospital with
the mother and she can relay all the information...It'll be safer for
mothers and babies."
She said that research shows that in a low-risk, healthy, normal
pregnancy a home birth is just as safe if not safer than a hospital birth.
Jurkowski stated that a midwife would be required to make a decision
whether a mother is healthy enough for a home birth; and that if they are
not, the midwife would not provide them with health care but send them to a
medical professional.
She said the other part of this bill regards collaborative practice
agreements, and that is where a midwife would have to have a doctor sign off
that he's going to be responsible for her actions and that is not going to
work.
This bill really focuses on Certified Professional Midwives, a
nationally recognized title and profession.
Midwives Continued from Page 1
"Certified Nurse Midwives are legal in the State of Missouri," said
Jurkowski. "They can do home births if they have a collaborative practice
agreement. There's only one doctor in the state willing to sign
collaborative practice agreements and he's not going to do it anymore. So
that means there's only one midwife doing home births in the State of
Missouri, legally."
She said that it sounds good in theory but that the doctor is putting
his license on the line for the actions of someone else.
"This bill says everybody's actions should stand alone," said Jurkowski.
"The midwives should stand alone, the doctors should stand alone, they're
only responsible for something they do."
If the bill passes, Certified Professional Midwives will be required to
go through the same training as in other states, with differences according
to the state.
The CPM credential is the only one that requires the midwife to have
training in out-of-hospital births.
Certified Professional Midwives are required to have 1,350 clinical
hours of one-on-one training with their preceptor plus their academic work,
which takes years of full-time study to complete, said Jurkowski.
They are also required to take the North American Registry of Midwives
(NARM) exam -- an eight hour written exam and demonstrate proficiency at 750
hands-on skills, before receiving their certification.
The CPM credential process is overseen by the National Organization for
Competency Assurance - the very same one that oversees nurses, nurse
practitioners and nurse midwives credential process.
She said that another issue that comes up with this bill is insurance
and the fact that midwives are not required to carry malpractice coverage.
"No insurance group is going to cover them because it would be
astronomical," said Jurkowski. "Currently in the State of Missouri a
physician is not required to carry malpractice insurance. Hospitals may
require them to, but Missouri State Law does not require them to carry
malpractice insurance."
She said that physicians are not required to disclose to their patients
whether or not they carry malpractice insurance. They don't have to inform
the patient of their history, background, education or insurance.
"A midwife, according to this bill, has to disclose all of these things:
the risks, the benefits, her training, how many births she's attended and
whether or not she carries insurance, which is a good thing. That means the
mom is getting all the information and is able to make a well reasoned
decision."
She said that sometimes it feels like they're (legislators) saying that
women in Missouri aren't smart enough to make a good choice.
"If you're going to complain about something you've got to be willing to
make a stand to fix it," said Jurkowski. "That's why I do what I do. ...
We're not going away. We'll keep pounding the pavement until we get there.
... We need the support. I know there are a lot of medical professionals who
disagree, but my opinion is that by not having midwives legal in the state
and regulated by the state that it's harming mothers and babies. I think it
would be much safer for both mothers and babies and families in general, to
have this option in the State of Missouri."
On April 15 Jurkowski received an e-mail which included a link to a
petition asking Missouri Legislators to allow Certified Professional
Midwives to practice in Missouri.
After posting the link on her blog, and as of April 24, there were 787
signatures on it.
For more information or to help the cause please call Deanna at (660)
530-4310 or visit her Web site at www.deannajurkowski.blogspot.com.
The petition is located at
http://www.petitiononline.com/MOMW/petition.html.

Work or Volunteer

Will I ever make a living from my talents, or will I continue to volunteer my time and talents to every good cause that comes along?

This is a discussion that Odin and I have frequently. I volunteer with the schools, the church, La Leche League, midwifery legislation, scouts, and several other little things that always seem to creep up.

Why is it that I must share my time with so many people? I'm good at what I do, but let's face it, so are others! Many times I stand up because I see a problem. I truly believe that if you don't like how something is working then you must be ready to offer an alternative. In addition, you must be willing to help implement the alternative. I see lots of problems in our world. I am willing to stand up, offer an alternative, and get my hands dirty fixing what I see broken.


Sometimes I think that when the babies are older, I'll get a job and contribute to the family monetarily. Realistically I know that it will never happen. Work would just get in the way of my efforts to change the world one person at a time!

-deanna