Legislative Update:

Hello, Midwifery Advocates:
The cause of legalizing direct entry midwifery took a giant step, um, sideways in Virginia today! Here's what happened:

The Joint Commission on Health Care, after an agonizing FOUR hours spent on other topics, reviewed the draft legislation that would legalize Certified Professional Midwives. The JCHC staffer who drafted the bill noted that of all the comments received, none were in favor of the bill in its current form. He handed out a written summary of comments. Comments from the medical world were pretty much what we expected (from the ob/gyns: "lay midwives are a threat to mothers and their unborn children," etc. etc., yada yada yada). Right below these comments were those from 30+ consumers, #1 of which said that midwives should not be required to collaborate with doctors because "such an agreement is effectively impossible due to the reluctance of physicians to enter into such an agreement." That was a sweet little juxtaposition. Then Delegate Hamilton (JCHC Midwifery Subcommittee chairman and our hero) spoke. He was awesome! He said that the JCHC should make every effort to put out a bill, because "to ignore this issue would be a mistake." Then, proving that he has truly learned to walk the walk and talk the talk, he said that there have been no studies showing that direct entry midwifery is "some sort of two headed monster" that threatens women and children. You go, guy! He said that no matter what the JCHC decided, he would introduce a bill to legalize CPMs that addressed all our concerns, in his committee (Health, Welfare and Institutions (HWI)) this year.

Well, everyone thought that was a perfect solution: "yeah, we'll let HAMILTON do it." In short order it was agreed that Delegate Hamilton could take this issue out of the JCHC to develop legislation on his own. They didn't vote "yes," they didn't vote "no." In effect, they took the ball and punted.

But they left us with pretty good field position. We have a very well educated and politically powerful committee chairman (Delegate Hamilton) who has taken us under his wing. Voting against your committee chair is more difficult to do than voting against the huge and powerful midwifery lobby ;-). Now the task is to get a good draft written (I'm taking the draft that we've been working on to Delegate Hamilton tomorrow), and sign up copatrons for it. That needs to happen by Jan 17th.

Where do we go from here? First, a huge thank you to everyone who wrote and called and came to the hearing today. Did it make a difference? Here's what midwifery subcommittee member and supporter Senator Lambert had to say: he noted that if this bill makes it into the General Assembly, we're in for quite a fight. Then, with a smile and a shake of his head he said, "but if you fight them like you fought us, you'll do okay."

So, we need to keep fighting! Next week I'll send out a message letting you know who's on the HWI subcommittee. Instead of every one of us trying to contact every one of them, it will probably be more effective if we each concentrate on the legislators in our local area. Be sure to contact your personal Delegate and Senator...it's not too soon to call and tell them you support the bill to legalize Certified Professional Midwives that Delegate Hamilton will be introducing.

*** or use the "Who's My Legislator" feature on the General Assembly Web Site

Don't give up the fight! As added motivation, consider this from Delegate Frank Hall. I spoke with him in the hall of the General Assembly building on Tuesday. He said that although he had voted our way in December he "just hadn't done his homework" and was reconsidering (can you say "doctors with money?"). He said he wasn't impressed by the argument that "women have a right to home birth" because we DO have the legal right to give birth at home. When I pointed out that was a catch-22 since we couldn't have a midwife attend us, he said "oh, yes you can...she just can't receive any compensation." (This is true, by the way.) When I asked how a midwife was supposed to become highly educated and trained if she couldn't be paid, he said (unconvincingly!) "Well, that's a good point." So, all you who would like to dabble in midwifery, and think it might be fun to catch babies in your spare time (and all those who want to be attended by women who practice midwifery as a hobby), go see Frank Hall...he's your guy. The rest of us need to keep the pressure on!
Thanks,
Ellen

*** You might also want use and bookmark the NEW General Assembly SITEMAP as an efficient starting point for any questions that you may have about your legislators and the VA legislative process in general.

JCHC LEGISLATIVE DRAFT (LD5346) -- totally illogical.

VBF/CMA MARKUP of (LD5346)

THE JCHC MONEY TRAIL

BOARD OF NURSING

BOARD OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS

COMMISSIONER / STATE BOARD OF HEALTH