A historic vote in the Senate Committee moves a bill to license homebirth midwives into the state House. With a vote of 51 to 7, the state Senate passed The...
News Release
Midwifery Licensure Bill Passes out of the Senate and on to the House
Historic Advance for Homebirth In Illinois
Coalition for Illinois Midwifery Website: http://www.illinoismidwifery.org
A historic vote in the Senate Committee moves a bill to license homebirth midwives into the state House. With a vote of 51 to 7, the state Senate passed The Midwifery Licensure Act (Senate Bill 385), sponsored by Senator William Haine (D-Alton). The bill will license homebirth midwives who hold the national credential, certified professional midwife (CPM), and will help pregnant women distinguish a qualified homebirth midwife from someone unqualified.
Licensing brings certified professional midwives into the mainstream. It gives the state authority to regulate homebirth midwives and protects the public. Using the certified professional midwife credential as a basis for licensure is the national standard for regulating homebirth midwives. Certified professional midwives can be licensed in 22 states.
Support for this bill is unprecedented. Homebirth families, including a significant number of Amish mothers, have been visiting the Capitol all month. Pat Cole, President, Illinois Families for Midwifery, reports "The homebirth grassroots community's response to this bill is record-breaking."
According to Rachel Wickersham, President of the Coalition for Illinois Midwifery (CFIM), the increase in grassroots mobilization is due to Illinois' homebirth crisis. Each year 800 - 1000 Illinois babies are born at home, yet licensed homebirth practices are found in only 4 of 102 Illinois counties, all in the northern third of the state. Due to the extreme shortage of homebirth providers, Illinois' homebirth mothers often are limited to the sub-standard options of hiring unlicensed providers, birthing unattended (without any provider at all), or traveling to meet midwives in out-of-state hotels. Homebirth mothers are now turning to their legislators for help.
Included in Cole's committee testimony was a letter she read out loud. The letter was from leaders of the Arthur, Illinois’ Amish community. The letter asked legislators to support the bill out of respect for their community's needs. The letter detailed the financial burden placed on Amish families when they have to deliver their babies in the hospital, because they cannot find a licensed midwife to come to their homes. The letter stated that they have to run bake sales, and Amish men must leave their farms to find other work to meet the medical and travel expenses of hospital births. The average hospital birth costs three to four times more than a typical homebirth.
In addition to the support of thousands of Illinois families, the Midwifery Licensure Act enjoys the support of a broad range of groups including:
American College of Nurse-Midwives Chapter IV-2 (Illinois)
Health and Medicine Policy Research Group
Illinois AFL-CIO
Illinois Maternal Child Health Coalition
Doctors for Midwives (Illinois)
Coalition for Illinois Midwifery
Illinois Families for Midwifery
North Eastern Illinois Doula Association
Chicago Community Midwives
International Cesarean Awareness Network, Chicago Chapter
Concerned Christian Americans
North American Registry of Midwives
National Organization of Women
Citizens for Midwifery.
Wickersham is thankful for the outpouring of support from Illinois organizations. "The support of the Illinois nurse-midwives really helps legislators understand that licensing homebirth midwives, based on national standards, makes homebirth safer." During committee hearings, Diane Bajus-Abderhalden, CNM, CNP, a homebirth nurse-midwife testified in support of the bill. In her testimony, Bajus-Abderhalden, a homebirth midwife for more than 25 years, recognized the importance of this bill in light of the ongoing homebirth maternity care crisis. More and more homebirth practices are closing. Bajus-Abderhalden testified that she soon will be leaving Illinois and closing her busy St. Charles practice. She explained this decision has been forced upon her due to the practice requirements of the Advanced Practice Nursing Act.
“Requiring midwives to sign contractual agreements with doctors effectively shuts down homebirth practices. Frequently, physicians choose to terminate these agreements, forcing homebirth practices to shut down,” said Wickersham. She continues "Very few physicians are willing to sign these collaborative contracts. Homebirth midwives are a vanishing resource. More than 20 homebirth practices have closed their doors in the past 10 years. This bill is the answer to the Illinois homebirth maternity care crisis."
The certified professional midwife credential is the only credential that requires the midwife to validate out-of-hospital birth experience prior to certification. While some nurse-midwives attend homebirths, the certified professional midwife is the most common homebirth maternity care provider. According to the American College of Nurse-Midwives, only 1% of nurse-midwives attend births at home. Nurse-midwives are trained primarily for hospital birth.
Within the past two years Virginia, Utah and Wisconsin passed legislation licensing homebirth midwives based upon the CPM credential. Currently, childbirth advocates in Indiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Georgia, Delaware and Idaho are seeking similar legislation. Formed in 2000, the Coalition for Illinois Midwifery seeks to ensure the availability of safe, licensed homebirth midwifery services for families who choose to give birth at home in the state of Illinois.
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