I've been meaning to post this for awhile but haven't had time. I am REALLY grateful to Naomi who sent me an email about it-- reminding me that I really need to share this because women's right to give birth how they choose is under attack--- again.
All around the country the right for free standing birth centers to remain open is being challenged by medical associations. Hundreds of birth centers around the country have been forced to close because of pressure and lobbying against them from the American Medical Association (AMA). Hospitals and the AMA want to see birth centers close because they are becoming big competition for the hospitals. More and more women around the US are choosing to birth naturally, and turning to birth centers because they offer things that many hospitals don't--like water births, fully naturally births with much fewer interventions, comfortable home-like rooms, one-on-one nursing, VBACs (vaginal births after cesareans), midwifery care and continuous labor support while still providing many of the "emergency procedures" that hospitals do. Birth centers are a wonderful medium between hospital and home births, and keeping the option open for women to birth there is VERY important if maternity care is ever going to improve in the US.
Utah currently only has one licensed birth center, The Birth and Family Place run by two Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM). Women who have given birth there always tell me that their experiences were amazing-- so different and much better than their previous hospital births. But right now this birth center's, as well as other birth centers in the future, right to exist is under attack by the Utah Hospital Association, the Utah Nurses Association, and the Utah Medical Association. I guess that since the Legislature told them that they can't challenge the LDEMs (Licensed Direct Entry Midwives-- home birth midwives) for two more years, they are keeping their teeth sharp by chewing on the birth centers for awhile.
Women deserve to have choices about how and where they birth, whether they want to birth at a birth center, or at home with a qualified and skilled midwife. Both of these options have been proven to be just as safe, if not safer, as hospitals for women with low-risk pregnancies. Women have the right to make decisions about their bodies and their babies, and deserve to have options open that aren't a "one-size fits all" package designated by people who have monetary interests. When women are educated about their bodies and their choices and when they are taught to trust and listen to their bodies and their babies they will make the best choice for themselves, whether it is at home, the hospital or at a birth center. No matter what a woman chooses she deserves to have a choice in what type of care she receives.
I know several of the women who read this blog have birthed at birth centers, in Utah and other States and I'd encourage you to speak out in favor of birth centers and see what actions you can take in your community to make sure the option remains open.
If you live in Utah your physical presence at a meeting concerning the fate of birth center licensing is VERY much needed!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
9:00 a.m.
Utah Department of Health
Cannon Building ~ 288 N. 1460 W.
Salt Lake City
Go here for more info
Even if you haven't birthed at a birth center or at home I hope you will still think about attending. Every woman who has had or will have a baby in Utah is affected by these decisions, because they determine the level and quality of care that all women and babies receive, whether in the hospital or out of it. The more people who show up to the meeting will help send the message that there are lots of people who care about women's rights and about improving the quality of maternity care in Utah! If you need someone to sit next to-- I'll be there!
4 comments:
Wonderful Heather I love. Now I hate to be all contrary on your own blog, but I have to ask! WHY is the American Medical Association 'attacking' the birth centers? I've been involved in a lot of health care stuff this year, talking to people on both sides of the "system." And from what I've learned I can tell you, there certainly are NOT monetary motives involved--no one is profiting from hospital births. (Aside from hospitals not being interested in profit) Hospitals generally have way more than they can handle in the way of births already. And births are way more expensive than other procedures in relation to insurance coverage--more births would cost hospitals, not help. There just isn't a monetary incentive there. And the other truth is, no one is attacking birth centers for the purpose of squashing women or women's rights. I can't help but feel that there is something else going on here. Is the AMA questioning the safety of birth centers? Have you looked into it?
Heather,
While I'm convinced that you and I differ and disagree on many of the issues at play in this debate, I have to admit that I'm a bit disappointed by your line of reasoning. One of the easiest and most effective debating techniques (though a fallacy of logic) is to attack the character of a group of people and/or to dehumanize them. To say that "Hospitals and the AMA want to see birth centers close because they are becoming big competition for the hospitals," and then in the next sentence say that there is "only one licensed birth center" in the state is contradictory. In fact, for the vast majority of hospitals in the state of Utah, obstetric care ends up being a financial liability. Further, to dehumanize them by saying, "...they are keeping their teeth sharp by chewing on the birth centers for awhile." is just as offensive as portraying you as a rube who can't read and is barefoot and pregnant and believes that if you eat enough cinnamon, you can defeat cancer.
In saying these things about the AMA, the UMA, and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, you are saying that physicians who have spent years and years of their life, their resources and their family time have only done so for money. That is offensive to me and to other physicians. I am a member of the AMA, the UMA, and other such medical societies. I don't practice medicine just to make money. I believe that I am safeguarding people's health and welfare, and if you needed an appendectomy in the middle of the night, I would do it irrespective of your ability to pay (as I have done the past two weekends at 3:00am). Likewise, while you may disagree with them, members of the AMA, the American Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the UMA truly feel that they are safeguarding the health of women and infants.
Reasonable people can have different opinions, and while I believe some studies veracity, you may not. However, don't attack an institution and a group of people just because you disagree with them. It is ugly.
I think one major thing that you also need to keep in mind is women listening to their bodies, and being 'low-risk'. I had a baby, in a large hospital thankfully, and I did not expect to have my baby have meconium. I don't feel like there is anything I could have felt to know she was going to have that issue, and I can't imagine what would have happened to her if I had chosen to deliver her at a birthing center. I think the biggest point of the changes are that a woman cannot guarantee or feel or trust her body enough to know that she or her baby will not be faced with complications. And for those reasons, I think it is important to look at how safe birthing centers are to moms and babies.
Ultimately, women can 'choose' the type of delivery they would like to have all they want, but if there are problems, they need access to the best medical care that is out there. If that means closing birthing centers, I'm ok with that. I had a hospital birthing class where natural birth was encouraged, and if women are really serious about doing it naturally and they are willing to prepare for it, then they still can have that experience, just in a place where advanced medical attention can be provided if needed.
Oh, and that birthing class I went to was in Provo, Utah, at UVRMC, the same place I chose to deliver, and a hospital that has a 'baby factory' bad reputation. It is possible to have both a natural birth and have it in a hospital with great maternity care.
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