Grassroots Network: NEW! CfM Tool Kit: Stand Up for Home Birth

Dear Friends,

Citizens for Midwifery officially announces a new addition to our website, our Advocacy Tool Kit: Stand Up for Home Birth!

Take a look here. You will find a comprehensive collection of information, facts, links, how-to’s, talking points for any occasion, and other useful advocacy tools, organized in sections. We would recommend you start with the Introduction section, but also read the new articles in the Important Information section: About AMA & ACOG, Safety, and Rights. Also take a look at the Resources section within the Tool Kit.

CfM developed this Tool Kit in response to the American Medical Association’s anti-home birth “Resolution 205” (adopted last spring): “… develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center ….” as well as the American College of Obstetricians’ continued opposition against access to home births and the midwives that attend them. Neither organization has any reputable evidence to support these positions.

Our purpose was to provide information and tools for everyone to use to undermine the “authority” of the AMA and ACOG and make the case for access to home birth and home birth midwives. Some of the material is oriented for use with legislators, specifically to help them learn and understand more about the nature of ACOG and the AMA and why their motives and opinions should not be trusted, in addition to understanding the evidence and “bigger picture” regarding routine maternity care and midwife-attended home birth. However, virtually all of the material is useful for many situations and circumstances.

Please make use of the information, fact sheets, and links!

Sincerely,

Susan Hodges, “gatekeeper”