Idaho Midwifery Bill

[Jenivere]

This was just sent to me by Midwife who will no longer be able to do deliveries if this passes. She only does a few a year and could never afford the fees. If you live in Idaho or know anyone who does then please pass it along!

This bill requires all practicing midwives in Idaho to either submit to a host of new regulations, licensing, and bureaucracy or go out of business. Currently, Idahoans have the freedom to decide who will provide care for them and their babies. If this bill passes, the politicians will decide which options are legal for you to choose from.

This mandatory licensure bill would:

1. Put 1/3 of the midwives out of business (10 have admitted this). Some of these midwives only do a couple of deliveries a year. They can’t afford licensure fees (up to $1,000 annually) and mandatory classes..

2. Drive away future midwives. A handful of ladies looking to become midwives in the next few years have admitted they would abandon pursuit.

3. Set up a whole new layer of unnecessary bureaucracy and hassle by creating a Board of Midwifery.

4. Make the practice of midwifery, without a license, a felony after two convictions.

5. Restrict midwives from making the best decisions in extenuating or emergency situations for their consumers.

To view the bill, follow the link below:
http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/leg...85Bookmark.htm

The bill has already passed the House unanimously. (It had no opposition, due to the fact that those few midwives pushing the bill kept the radical changes done to it under wraps from the rest of the midwives until after it passed the house.) Now a lot of midwives and consumers of midwifery are banding together to kill the bill. House Bill #185 will be in committee this Monday, March 16th at 3pm.

We need your help! Please contact all 9 members on the Senate Health & Welfare Committee by form letter and/or phone and let them know that you are opposed to House Bill #185 pertaining to midwifery.

Senator Patti Anne Lodge, (R) - Chair Home [phone]

Senator Joyce Broadsword, (R) - Vice Chair Home [phone] Bus [phone]

Senator Denton Darrington, (R) Home [phone]

Senator John McGee, (R) Home [phone] Bus [phone]

Senator Charles Coiner, (R) Home: [phone] Business: [phone]

Senator James Hammond, (R) Home: [phone]

Senator Melinda Smyser, (R) Home [phone]

Senator Nicole LeFavour, (D) Home [phone] Bus [phone]

Senator Les Bock, (D) Bus [phone]

[Turquesa]

Just curious--If your midwife is already practicing in Idaho, how will this bill make midwifery illegal for her? It contains a "grandmother" clause that allows currently practicing midwives to opt out of licensure.