May 23, 2008 - HARRISBURG, PA

COMMONWEALTH COURT SAYS THE PRACTICE OF MIDWIFERY IS NOT THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

Homebirth Midwife Diane Goslin won her appeal after a 5-2 ruling from the Commonwealth Court judges stated that "practicing midwifery cannot be construed to be the same as practicing medicine and surgery". Whether it was because of the handmade signs we carried to the Capitol for all of those rallies, or the cosmic forces just spinning off the full moon earlier last week, some of the people in power seem to have finally "gotten it".

It's true that Pennsylvania laws on midwifery (we have one from 1929, and one from 1985) are confusing and seem to contradict each other, and for this reason, some could say that Diane won her appeal because of a technicality. But, hey - we still won this one, and for that I am personally celebrating. Just for a minute, though, because the Medical Board can still appeal this decision, and it's very clear to everyone in PA that the law needs to be remedied. Now is the time we need to get busy. We need a good law that clearly includes all midwives, and allows them to practice and regulate themselves. Birth is not an illness - and midwifery is not the practice of medicine. Let the midwives have their own board - let them decide who is and is not qualified to catch a baby. Require the obstetricians and hospitals to work in harmony with midwives for pregnancies and births that need medical attention.

We, the "public" must ask for these things. We, the "public" must organize ourselves to offer suggestions to those in power politically - because as much as we are a powerful voice - we still don't get to vote on the senate floor. We, the "public" carry the responsibility of being relentless in our pursuit of childbirth freedom. While freedom of choice is the strongest driving force behind this battle, we cannot ignore the revenue generated from the current medical model of childbirth or the power that comes when such astronomical amounts of money are involved. The average cost for a homebirth midwife in PA is $2000 - a fraction of the cost for a hospital birth - making it affordable, especially to the millions of uninsured families in our country. Compare this cost with a hospital bill I saw belonging to a personal friend who gave birth in a hospital recently. Over $29,000. We are allowing others to profit from the births of our babies, and with the CDC's latest maternal mortality rates (the U.S ranks second to last in the industrialized world), the cost to women is becoming far greater than what the hospital bills us for.

Midwives are a real and literal threat to this current birth system. Remember, that it was only about 60 years ago that the hospital became the typical place for birth. My own father, born in 1938, was born at home. In these recent years, we have blindly accepted that childbirth is a medical condition. It's important to establish that this system has been dependent on societies beliefs and fears of childbirth, that would preclude midwifery as the primary model of care. When those within this system feel threatened, they act. In the American Medical Associations literature, the "Scope of Practice Partnership", this organization calls for it's members to "immediately embark on a campaign to identify and have elected or appointed to state medical boards physicians (MDs or DOs) who are committed to asserting and exercising their full authority to regulate the practice of medicine by all persons within a state notwithstanding efforts by boards of nursing or other entities that seek to unilaterally redefine their scope of practice into areas that are true medical practice." - within their list of those "entities", in another part of the document, it specifically lists midwives. They are asking their members to "influence" state medical boards to keep midwives, and others that threaten their business - out. Not surprising, but it seems a bit arrogant to actually put something like that in print. It's good to note that they do feel threatened, as they should. When we can all establish, as the Commonwealth Court has just done, that midwifery is not the practice of medicine, we are in a great place to initiate change.

As part of this change, The National Birth Policy Coalition was formed during a summit of childbirth activists in Chicago last year. The coalition has initiated the "The Big Push for Midwives Campaign" partly in response to the AMA's directive. This campaign is nationwide and has been endorsed by organizations such as Citizens for Midwifery, Midwives Alliance of North America, North American Registry of Midwives and Birth Without Boundaries (see www.thebigpushformidwives.org). The goals of the campaign are "to fully integrate the Midwives Model of Care into the health care systems of our states, to highlight the importance of family healthcare choices and to defend the ability of CPMs to provide legal and safe prenatal, birth and postpartum care to families in every state. Childbirth activists from the campaign's participating states are pooling their collective resources and experience to coordinate and optimize advocacy efforts during 2008". On a local level, Pennsylvania Families for Safe Birth was recently organized to bring advocates from across the state together to strengthen the grassroots campaign for childbirth and midwifery freedom in PA (www.pasafebirth.org). The Midwives Alliance of PA is another organization that is connecting midwives throughout the state (www.pamidwivesalliance.org). We are joining together, becoming organized, and are completely ready and prepared to create a new paradigm in childbirth.

Thank you to Diane Goslin for finding the emotional stamina to continue this fight (legal costs are unimaginable - please donate to her legal fund at www.savehomebirth.com). Thank you to Jody Ward for sending out the very first email ever about Diane, and for working so very hard for the past year and a half. To the midwives, grassroots organizers and advocates that continue to work constantly on this issue - THANK YOU - we are doing it. Let's ride this wave of victory from the Commonwealth Court, and use it to further our initiative to solidly establish the legitimacy of midwifery in PA and to provide freedom in childbirth to the families here. Join us if you haven't already by going to the aforementioned websites to see what part you can play in this exciting time of history.

May the spirit of hope and love and change surround us all as we look to a new world that is coming as a result of our work.

Peace,
Salem, Executive Director BWB

The Midwives Model of Care is based on the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes.
The Midwives Model of Care:
 
* Monitors the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the mother throughout the childbearing cycle
 
* Provides the mother with individualized education, counseling, and prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support
 
* Minimizes technological interventions
 
* Identifies and refers women who require obstetrical attention
 
The application of this woman-centered model of care has been proven to reduce the incidence of birth injury, trauma, and cesarean section.
 
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