24/06/2020
Do you care about access to midwives, home birth, and birth centers? Please call your California state Senator’s office today and ask them to vote NO on Senate Bill 1237 Dodd - Nurse Midwives. Tell them you live or work in their district and that you care about access to midwifery and this bill applies ever more restrictions.
SB 1237 restricts access to midwives for out-of-hospital care (homebirth and birth center birth) by requiring nurse-midwives to secure written and signed agreements from a physician before they can practice.
While the bill requires nurse-midwives to create collaboration relationships with physicians, there is no requirement for physicians to engage in these relationships.
This restrictive bill maintains the physician monopoly on birth: it’s like requiring an independently owned pharmacy to have to get permission from Walgreens before they can serve you.
We must stop asking doctors for permission to have care with a midwife.
Tell the California legislature to stop policing pregnant bodies! Please respectfully, tell your state senator to vote no on the nurse-midwife, permission from a doctor bill, SB 1237.
Find your state Senator here: findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov
SB 1237 specifically names out-of-hospital birth as “high-risk,” requiring nurse-midwives to secure a written agreement from a physician before they will be allowed to provide care. This “high risk” status, once written into law, could have a future impact on access to care.
Don’t get us wrong – we all support independent practice for all midwives, which was the original goal of this bill. But this bill has gone through multiple amendments - submitted by pro-hospital lobbies that contribute millions to California legislative campaigns - that make access to midwife care worse.
Please call your Senator’s office today so they can hear from you before they vote on Friday, June 26th.
If you have the time, read it yourself: Notice the section about restrictions and permissions for out-of-hospital birth. You can see how the bill has been amended since introduced in February for increasing restrictions and permissions.
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