I have been following the discussions of the Big Push for Midwifing for some time. One group says it gives people more options, the other group says it removes options and is dangerous. Here is my take on the subject:
The Legal Goal:
All women are allowed to choose the birth attendant and location of birth of their choice.
No human will be forced to undergo any medical procedure for the benefit of another human being.
All humans must be informed of all options and be told the true risks and benefits of each. All humans have the right to consent or refusal of all medical procedures.
No woman can be prosecuted for child endangerment or neglect for making the above choices no matter what their choice is.
How do we achieve these goals? In order to know that, first we must know where we are at today.
In many states out of hospital midwifery is illegal or alegal (which means legal until someone complains). As I understand it, TBP is attempting to make CPM assisted out of hospital births legal. This is a step in the right direction, but it must be taken with caution. The laws TBP are promoting COULD be used as the foot in the door to achieve the above goals; a first step. Or they COULD be used to make all midwifing illegal (“you can only practice if you are licensed and we won’t issue any licenses.” Ala Hungry) or to restrict it to only the three women in America that OBs don’t label “high risk.”
As for providing consumers with the knowledge that their attendant is “qualified” simply pass a law that anyone accepting any type of compensation for attending a birth must provide written documentation of their training, number of births, and outcomes (from OB to DEM to Great Aunt Matilda) to each client. This would need to require number of inductions, assisted deliveries, episiotomies, c-section and deaths as well as require it to be updated every so often (yearly? Twice a year?) Then the consumer has the information to make informed choices.
Anyone who lies on this form or in any other way misrepresents the facts should be prosecuted for fraud. Anyone who has the training to know a skill and misuses or doesn’t use it and harm follows should be prosecuted for malpractice.
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