05/21/2024
Hot off the press from NYCPM re: CPM legislation. Please make a phone call!:
Hello Midwifery supporters!
Thank you so much for your support this legislative season! We learned Monday (5/20) that the agenda for the Assembly Higher Education Committee - the committee that the CPM Licensing bill currently sits in - is being finalized *this week*, likely in the next couple of days. Higher Ed Chair Pat Fahy needs to hear from you that this bill is important.
Fahy needs to know that the desire for CPMs comes from more than those of us who are CPMs who want to practice legally. If you are a consumer - if you've had a home birth or birth center birth, used a midwife, wish you had a midwife, would like more options in maternity care, she needs to hear from you! If there are no maternity care providers in your area, if your local hospital closed its birth services, if there are no midwives available to you, she needs to hear from you! If you are a doula whose clients wish they had more options, she needs to hear from you. If you are part of a community who prefers to stay out of the hospital or doesn't feel comfortable going to the hospital to birth, she needs to hear from you! If you support licensing CPMs in New York State, for any reason, she needs to hear from you!
Please, please contact Pat Fahy's office today. Please ask anyone you know who supports licensure to contact her office - forward this email, get together with friends or members of your community and call together. Contact information, a call script and sample email are included below.
Thank you for your support at this critical time!
~Danielle Kitt, CPM, LMT
Secretary, NYCPM
Assembly Member, Patricia Fahy
Higher Education Committee Chair, Assembly
Albany Office Phone Number: 518-455-4178
Email Address: FahyP@nyassembly.gov
[If you have time, House Speaker Carl Heastie influences what bills get on the agenda]
Assembly Member, Carl Heastie
House Speaker of the New York State Assembly
Albany Office Phone Number: 518-455-3791
Email Address: Speaker@nyassembly.gov
CALL SCRIPT:
"Hello, my name is ________ , I live in ________ . I'm calling to express my support for Assembly Bill A4819a, the CPM Licensing Bill. Please put the bill on the Higher Ed committee agenda. Licensing CPMs is important to me because [personalize here, samples are below]. Thank you for your time!"
E.g.: "I am a student {or} midwife and would like to be able to legally serve my community"
"I have had a homebirth and support CPMs."
"The nearest maternity care is [personalize - e.g. an hour, 50 miles] away"
"I wish there was a birth center in my area"
"I want to have a legal, licensed CPM attend my births."
"Reproductive choice is important to me."
EMAIL TEMPLATE:
Subject: Put the CPM Licensing Bill (A4819a) on the Higher Ed Committee Agenda
Please put the CPM Licensing Bill (A4819a) on the Higher Education committee agenda, and License CPMs in New York State! I am a constituent from [personalize with your city/town/county or area of the state]. Licensing CPMs is important to me because [personalize here, samples are below].
Thank you!
Sincerely,
E.g.: "I am a student {or} midwife and would like to be able to legally serve my community"
"I have had a homebirth and support CPMs."
"The nearest maternity care is [personalize - e.g. an hour, 50 miles] away"
"I want a trained care provider at my out of hospital birth"
"I wish there was a birth center in my area"
"I want to have a legal, licensed CPM attend my births."
"Reproductive choice is important to me."
