Bay Area Midwives

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1504918219715406&id=100005917264552

We must stop SB 1237 from passing in the Assembly (it has already passed in the Senate) and moving on to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. SB 1237 will be voted on by the full Assembly on Monday, August 24th. Please call your Assemblymember TODAY with a simple message (it’s OK to leave a voice mail): Vote NO on SB 1237, which will severely restrict access to midwifery care in the state of California.... Find your representative in the state Assembly here:

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams/panda-cam

"Rest assured that CALM and thousands of midwifery supporters do not find it easy to oppose this legislation (that supposedly removes physician supervision, when in fact it increases physician led care through the requirement of signed protocols). It’s no coincidence that California Medical Association and California chapter of ACOG are happy with this bill, because it represents their agenda to put scope restrictions on all non-physician providers.... Conversations devolved with the sponsors/authors when the authors/sponsors simply repeated their talking points, did not engage in meaningful conversation and then told us (CALM/CAM/CFAM and many others) that this bill had to be amended the way that CMA wanted it because CMA put $6 million into re-election campaigns this year. So, it is inevitable that this bill will pass. But those of us that understand it’s far reaching implications, have relied on expert analysis and who understand the history of the campaign to eliminate midwifery (especially black and immigrant midwifery) feel obligated to try to protect access to more than just white middle class folks with means with mostly white midwives."

The State Assembly’s powerful committee on Appropriations has asked the public to provide testimony on SB 1237, a bill that puts denial of midwifery care based on arbitrary risk factors into law. Please send a brief email to [email protected] TODAY. All you need to do is state your name, why you support access to midwives (i.e. you are a midwifery client, advocate, midwife, doula, etc.) and why you oppose SB 1237. ... As the committee in charge of making sure that the state budget is managed responsibly, the Appropriations committee is MOST interested in the fiscal impact of legislation. Specifically, they need to know that SB 1237 wastes money and resources mandating that the California State Department of Public Health develop a new, entirely redundant data reporting system that will require nurse-midwife providers to report individual personal information from home birth and birth center families. Why is this new data collection system a problem for California’s taxpayers and for people who choose community birth with midwives? It's a problem because this data is already disclosed, processed, analyzed, reported, and, most importantly, is privacy-protected, via the birth certificate process. SB 1237 contains NO privacy protections and requires nurse midwives to disclose highly personal and identifying patient information. We are also asking midwifery supporters to join the Appropriations committee Hearing tomorrow (8/18/2020) beginning at 10AM to express your opposition to its negative fiscal impact and lack of privacy protections. Information and access to participating in the hearing is here. NOTE: If you can show up at a remote testimony station, it may help assure that you get the opportunity to be heard. At the last committee hearing dozens if folks in opposition to SB 1237 were shut out of the democratic process for "technical difficulties." Now more than ever we need to allocate health care resources strategically and responsiblywe simply can’t afford to waste them on the kinds of inefficient and redundant data collection systems that SB 1237 mandates. Please send your email today and make a plan to call in to the hearing tomorrow 8/18/2020 beginning at 10AM!

https://www.change.org/p/andrew-m-cuomo-require-ny//share

Happy Mother's Day !

For healthy Moms planning a homebirth or birth center...https://docs.google.com//1FAIpQLSduah4tXJSzpjaPF5/viewform

https://facebook.com/events/s/book-signing-event-acupressure/788557134955142/?ti=as

Jumping thru the circle. :)

This is dilation. Ten centimeters !

VBAC families: we need your help to prevent legislation that would ban VBAC with licensed midwives. Learn more and get involved here: https://calmidwives.org/legislative-volunteer-letter/