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Certified Professional Midwives are meeting the needs of pregnant women and their infants who have nowhere else to go.

THE “I PUSHED FOR OUT-OF-HOSPITAL MATERNITY CARE" PETITION

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, support including out-of-hospital maternity care and Certified Professional Midwives, who are specially trained to provide it, in federal health care reform legislation.

In response to misinformation being circulated by special interest groups seeking a monopoly on maternity care in the United States, we who support access to Certified Professional Midwives for all women, including those on Medicaid, assert the following:


1) Certified Professional Midwives are the only maternity care providers in the United States who must undergo specialized clinical training in out-of-hospital settings to confer expertise in the provision of out-of-hospital maternity care.

2) The definitive study of home birth published by the British Medical Journal [ BMJ 2005;330:1416 (18 June)] confirms that babies delivered to low-risk women planning a home birth under the care of Certified Professional Midwives (the vast majority of whom train by completing didactic and clinical apprenticeships under the supervision of senior midwives) experience outcomes equal to those of low-risk women giving birth in the hospital, but with far fewer costly and preventable interventions, including a five-fold decrease in cesarean section.

3) Research also shows that babies delivered under the care of Certified Professional Midwives have 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.

4) Across the country in rural and urban communities, CPMs are meeting the needs of pregnant women and their infants who have nowhere else to go. The more barriers that there are to prenatal care -- travel distance or length of wait to obtain appointments -- the less likely a woman is to pursue care. Community-based CPMs provide thorough and personalized maternity care at a time when many other maternity care providers have abandoned these communities to practice in more affluent suburbs and exurbs.

5) David Anderson, Professor of Economics at Centre 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.

6) The state of Washington reports a savings of $3.1 million 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.

7) The CPM credential, issued by NARM, is nationally accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), which is the accrediting arm of the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). The NCCA accredits more than 200 professional credentials such as nurse-midwives, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, and critical care nurses.

8) Certified Professional Midwives meet the international midwifery educational standards promulgated by the International Confederation of Midwives, which:
-- Recognize and support multiple routes of entry into midwifery that result in a variety of educational programs based on the needs of member nations

-- Require that midwifery instructors are skilled and current in their theory and clinical practice

-- Recognize the vital role that continuing education plays in the safety and currency of midwifery practice.







0-25 of 17930 signatures
Number Date Name Organization Location
17930 February 09, 2010 Tracey Wingold , VA
17929 February 08, 2010 Stephanie HewittMidwife in training Grand Prairie, TX
17928 February 07, 2010 kim slade quincy, MA
17927 February 07, 2010 Nancy Mullane Winthrop, MA
17926 February 06, 2010 James Mullane Danbury, CT
17925 February 06, 2010 Mark Murphy Winthrop, MA
17924 February 06, 2010 Mark Murphy Winthrop, MA
17923 February 05, 2010 Bree SizerEmpowered To Push Doula Services Ankeny, IA
17922 February 05, 2010 Johanne Pino , MA
17921 February 05, 2010 John ClucasPersonal Winthrop, MA
17920 February 05, 2010 Shannon Viera , MA
17919 February 04, 2010 Jessica Maday , WA
17918 February 03, 2010 Rachel Golden Franklin, TX
17917 February 02, 2010 Sarah Jackson Seattle, WA
17916 February 02, 2010 Tawnya Jones , UT
17915 January 31, 2010 Maggie Jennings Temecula, CA
17914 January 29, 2010 Tiffany McCormack Winder, GA
17913 January 29, 2010 Candice Hyland , CA
17912 January 27, 2010 Christina Oliveri-Ceballos , NY
17911 January 27, 2010 Renee Centore-Kelly Enfield, CT
17910 January 27, 2010 Dana Gause , ID
17909 January 26, 2010 Carrie Sutherland Valley Park, MO
17908 January 25, 2010 Bryan Thousand , TX
17907 January 25, 2010 Rebecca Thousand Montgomery, TX
17906 January 21, 2010 sara jagdfeld Mobile, AL
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