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6/6/10 at 1:42pm
Thread Starter 
As many of you know, the closure of St. Vincent's hospital was quite a blow to NYC women's birthing options. Not only were the practices of many hospital-based midwives left without a facility, but since St. Vincent's hospital was the only NYC hospital that supported a woman's right to choose homebirth, many of NYC's homebirth midwives lost their "written practice agreements", which is paperwork required under state law for midwives to practice. While I understand that many individual doctors would like to collaborate with midwives who have homebirth practices, due to pressure from their professional organization and insurance concerns, none felt able to sign replacement written practice agreements with the homebirth midwives. This has left NYC's homebirth midwives -- a group of highly educated and trained medical professionals, licensed by the state and under high demand from consumers of maternity services --- in legal limbo when they do their jobs serving the community.

Luckily, legislation called the Midwifery Modernization Act (the "MMA") has been pending for some time in our state legislature that would solve the current crisis by eliminating the need for written practice agreements. It would also remove barriers to the practices of all the midwives of the state.

This week, the bill is being moved along to the next stage of the legislative process -- being voted on in committee -- this Wednesday.


We need to build momentum to get this passed! Go to Freeourmidwives.org
to find out what you can do.
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