DEAR SUPPORTERS OF HOMEBIRTH AND MIDWIFERY – As the 96th Illinois General Assembly enters into its second year, the Coalition for Illinois Midwifery (CFIM) is excited to be continuing its push for the licensure of midwives!
STEP ONE: Look up your Illinois state representative. Go to www.ilga.gov and click on legislator lookup.
STEP TWO: See if your state rep is listed in the following targeted groups.
If your rep is on one of these lists, follow the instructions for that group. Everyone else (if your state rep is NOT listed here), see "Everyone else", below.
Group One - Representatives Lisa Dugan, William Burns, Greg Harris, Karen May, and Esther Golar
Group Two – Representatives Keith Sommer and Michael Zalewski
Group Three - Representatives Arthur Turner, William B. Black, Jack McGuire, Shane Cultra, Dave Winters, Mike Boland, Cynthia Soto, Lou Lang, Karen A. Yarbrough, Luis Arroyo, Harry Osterman, Maria Antonia Berrios, Ron Stephens, Careen M Gordon and Joseph M. Lyons
Group Four – Legislators who are not on the committee and did not sponsor the bill in the past, but have indicated they are friendly to the bill and will vote “yes” when it gets to the floor.
Instructions for Group One
These are representatives who sit on the Healthcare Availability and Access Committee where the bill was heard last spring. It is absolutely urgent that we manage to get a meeting with each of these legislators and it is imperative that some of them change their vote from a “no” to a “yes” or the bill will not make it through their committee this year. If it does not, we will have to wait until January 2011 to start all over again.
If you live in one of these representative’s districts, please call and identify yourself as a constituent and ask the secretary for a meeting in your rep’s home office to discuss the Homebirth Safety Act, HB226. The meeting would be on a Monday or Friday generally as they are in Springfield Tuesday through Thursday, most weeks.
If the secretary indicates that you cannot have a meeting, see the **starred** section below entitled IF YOU CANNOT GET A MEETING.
If you STILL cannot get a meeting, ask if your legislator will vote "yes" on the bill. If you do not receive a clear answer on this question, ask, "How can the bill be changed to gain your support?" Listen to their concerns and suggestions, write them down, and report back to us by hitting reply to this email and also cc Jamie at the email address above. If your legislator asks questions about the bill over the phone, let them know you will find out the answer and will get back to them or will have the coalition contact them with the answer.
Instructions for Group Two
These legislators voted yes for the Homebirth Safety Act. If you live in one of their districts, please contact their secretaries and verify that they will continue to support the bill when it is brought before them again. Ask if there is anything they can do to help convince their fellow committee members to allow the bill to pass. Let us know how these discussions went following the contact instructions for group one above. If you do not get a response, see the **starred** section below.
Instructions for Group Three
These legislators sponsored the Homebirth Safety Act last session when it was known as SB385. If you live in one of their districts, please contact your legislator and thank them for their past sponsorship of the Homebirth Safety Act. Ask them if they will please add their name as a co-sponsor to HB 226. Let them know that this is an improved bill that includes the language agreed-upon with the Illinois' nursing associations. The new language includes strengthened educational requirements. Let us know how these conversations went by using the contact instructions from group one above. If you cannot get a response, see the **starred** section below.
Instructions for Group Four
For anyone who’s legislator is friendly to the bill but is not on any of the first three lists above, contact your representative and ask them if there is anything they can do to help convince the Healthcare Availability and Access Committee to allow the bill to pass to the floor. Let us know what they say. If you cannot get a response, see the **starred** section below.
EVERYONE ELSE: (if your rep is NOT listed above) follow these more general instructions.
Please call your rep and ask if they will support our bill (HB226). If you can, jot down the name or title of the person you spoke to, and what happened. Then let us know what happened! If you cannot get a response, see the **starred** section below.
In all cases please inform the representatives that Illinois Families who choose homebirth continue to struggle to find providers and there are still licensed providers in only 5 out of 102 counties. Things have not gotten any better. We need to pass the bill.
******IF YOU CANNOT GET A MEETING OR RESPONSE
Now that the Illinois legislature is wrapping up its two year cycle, legislators are considering more than a thousand issues. So they may mention a procedural issue (such as, "your bill is still in rules") as a way to delay giving a position on our bill. Please be understanding that this is nothing personal, just a matter of their over-stuffed inbox.
Let them know that you understand they are very busy, but regardless, we are going to keep working on this issue until it passes. Indicate that you are disappointed to be put off because of procedure and you really want to talk with them about homebirth safety NOW, because we hope the bill will move forward, and we need to hear from them SOONER rather than later (or not after the bill passes some procedural hurdle).
EACH OF THESE GROUPS IS IMPORTANT AND YOUR PARTICIPATION IS VITAL. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR THE FIRST THING MONDAY MORNING! PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR AND DON’T FORGET TO CALL!!!
STEP THREE: PLEASE DONATE
Helping make homebirth safer for mothers and babies and midwives costs a tremendous amount of money. The Coalition needs your help, financially, as much as ever. Please visit http://illinoismidwifery.org and click on paypal or mail a check made out to CFIM (or Coalition for Illinois Midwifery) to:
CFIM c/o Vicki Johnson
6092 Torchlite Trail
Loves, Park, IL 61111
Or if you are a midwife, doula, massage therapist or other provider, please consider donating a small portion of each client fee. Check out Community Counts – Better Birth Initiative at
http://communitycountsbetterbirth.wordpress.com/2010/01/
STEP FOUR: LAST BUT NOT LEAST -- Report back!
