CONTACT: Russ Fawcett, (910) 471-5187, spigget@aol.com
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 4, 2009
North Carolina Home Birth Families to Advocate for Licensing Midwives at the State Legislature on ‘International Day of the Midwife’
Legislation Would Let NC Join 25 Other States in Advancing Healthcare Options for Families Who Choose Midwife-led Care in Out-of-Hospital Settings.
RALEIGH, NC (May 4, 2009)—Families from across the state will convene at the statehouse on May 5, 2009 to honor “International Day of the Midwife” and to advocate to members of the legislature for safe and legal access to out-of-hospital maternity care providers. They again will draw attention to the NC House Select Committee on Licensing Midwives release in December 2008 of a study committee report, which calls on the state to license and regulate Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs), who are specifically trained in out-of-hospital deliveries.
“We applaud the Committee for recommending a much-needed and long-overdue reform in current law and policy,” said Russ Fawcett, Legislative Chair for North Carolina Friends of Midwives. “Homebirths have more than doubled in North Carolina in the past few years. Each year, more North Carolina families choose out-of-hospital birth for religious, cultural, philosophical or financial reasons. These families deserve safe and affordable maternity care, and the midwives who provide it deserve legal recognition.”
Currently, there are no laws in North Carolina to regulate CPMs, who deliver babies in private homes and freestanding birth centers. Studies show that low-risk women who plan home births under the care of CPMs have outcomes equal to low-risk women who deliver in the hospital, but with far fewer costly and preventable interventions. A study commissioned by the Washington legislature found that during the last five years alone, the state’s licensed midwives saved taxpayers and private insurers more than $10 million.
“From both a cost and a safety standpoint, licensing midwives is an important public health issue,” said Henry Dorn, MD, a board-certified OBGYN who practices in High Point. “The CPM credential is the gold standard for midwives who specialize in out-of-hospital birth, and it is critical that we do all we can to ensure that women in our state have access to the safest care possible, including collaborative care with other providers when it becomes necessary.”
North Carolina Friends of Midwives, a grassroots organization of midwife advocates dedicated to promoting, supporting, and protecting midwifery in North Carolina. North Carolina is a priority of The Big Push for Midwives Campaign a nationally coordinated campaign to advocate for regulation and licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and to push back against the attempts of the American Medical Association Scope of Practice Partnership to deny American families access to legal midwifery care. Through its work with state-level advocates, the Big Push is helping to build a new model of U.S. maternity care built on expanding access to out-of-hospital maternity care and CPMs, who provide affordable, quality, community-based care that is proven to reduce costly and preventable interventions as well as the rate of low-birth weight and premature births.
Media inquiries about North Carolina Friends of Midwives should be directed to Russ Fawcett at (910) 471-5187, spigget@aol.com. Media inquiries about the Big Push should be directed to Steff Hedenkamp at (816) 506-4630, Steff@TheBigPushForMidwive
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North Carolina Friends of Midwives | 5990 Beaman Old Creek Road | Walstonburg, NC 27888 | (252) 747-7785 | NCFOM@aol.com | www.ncfom.org
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