Health care reform! Speak up for better birth choices!

[Guest guest]

Supporters of Homebirth and choice in maternity care~

 

As many of you may know, the White House issued a call this week asking citizens

from across the country to send emails about what they would like to see in

health care reform. Not long afterwards, the server accepting the emails

crashed.

 

Why? Because it got flooded with emails about the President's birth certificate!

 

Now the press is reporting about it, just as they did when grassroots organizers

for the legalization of marijuana set the record for the most number of emails

sent during the transition—a mere 6000. We can top that!

 

It turns out there is another, lesser-known online form for submitting comments

about health care reform. Let's use it!

 

If we top 6000 emails—and I know we ca n—we will set a new record and get the

White House's attention on how strong support for out-of-hospital maternity care

and Certified Professional Midwives is.

 

So please go to the following link and fill out the form with a short, simple

message about why you want all women, including those on Medicaid, to have

access to out-of-hospital maternity care and Certified Professional Midwives who

are specially trained to provide it.

 

http://www.healthreform.gov/communityreports/comments.html

 

Pick one or two points to include in your own words: And always use the title,

Certified Professional Midwives, spelled out.

 

Certified Professional Midwives are specially trained as experts in

out-of-hospital maternity care and deliver babies in private homes and in

freestanding birth centers.

 

Research consistently shows that low-risk women planning to deliver their babies

at home under the care of Certified Professional Midwives experience=2 0outcomes

equal to low-risk women who deliver in the hospital, but with far fewer costly

and preventable interventions, including a five-fold decrease in cesarean

section.

 

Babies delivered under the care of Certified Professional Midwives

havesignificantly reduced rates of prematurity and low-birth weight, two of the

leading contributing factors to racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes

and to the costs associated with long-term care.

 

David Anderson, Professor of Economics at Center College with a specialization

in the costs of out-of-hospital maternity care, calculates that increasing use

of Certified Professional Midwives and of out-of-hospital maternity care by less

than 10% would result in savings of $9.1 billion annually, while actually

improving outcomes.

 

The state of Washington reports a savings of $3.1 million dollars over a period

of two years to the state Medicaid system when women experiencing healthy,

low-risk pregnancies give birth with licensed midwives instead of in the

hospital.

 

The recent Milbank Report conservatively estimates savings of $2.5 billion

dollars a year if the cesarean surgery rate is brought=2 0down to 15% in the

U.S.

 

Certified Professional Midwives are the only providers specially trained in

out-of-hospital birth in the event that hospitals become unsafe for healthy

pregnant women during a disaster.

 

Thank you to everyone who is reaching out—it only takes a few minutes but it is

so very helpful. We are making amazing progress in DC and now is not the time to

let up! So please forward this to family and friends who can help, and thank you

for doing your part to get Certified Professional Midwives and out-of-hospital

maternity care included in health care reform