To all Nebraska homebirth supporters:
Hi! I'm the Chair of the recently organized Nebraska Friends of Midwives. Our organization is working to spread the word about what's going on with the state government in relation to homebirth.
The Nebraska Board of Health is currently looking at the possibility of recommending to the legislature that CPMs (direct-entry midwives) be licensed in our state, and that CNMs be allowed to attend homebirths. During this process, a Technical Review Committee (TRC) first looks at all the information related to the proposals, then they make their recommendation to the BOH, and the BOH makes an official recommendation to the legislature. The TRC recently decided to recommend AGAINST legalization, and now their recommendation goes on to the BOH.
This is extremely important!! If the BOH recommends in favor of these proposals, much of our work with the legislature is taken care of. If it recommends against, we aren't back where we started - we're further back, swimming upstream against a negative recommendation.
So, there are two things you need to know about. 1. Our postcard campaign, described below, and 2. The meeting of the BOH on July 24th at 1:00 in Lincoln. We are gathering a HUGE number of people together to pack the room (and the HALLS!) on that day.
We must let the BOH know that there are more than "44-100 people" (to quote a TRC committee member) who support the legalization of midwife-attended homebirth in Nebraska.
Here's what you need to do:
Go to www.nemidwives.org to learn more about the 407 Review process, and to download postcards. You can print the postcards out on cardstock (it comes out 4 to a page), then cut them out, sign, stamp and send.
Talk to ALL your friends who might be interested in sending a postcard. We'd love for everybody to get postcards to ten more people (50 would be great too, but we'll shoot for ten.)
Tell your friends something like this: "Did you know homebirth is illegal in NE? The NE Board of Health is considering a recommendation to the unicameral regarding legalizing homebirth midwives, and I belong to a group that's trying to show public support for doing so. Would you be willing to sign your name to a postcard to show you support a family's right to choose where they
give birth?" Or something like that. I have several friends who are in deeply committed relationships with their epidurals who nonetheless believe that other women should be able to give birth at home if they want to.
If you're wondering why postcards and why not letters, it's because no new "testimony" or information is allowed for consideration by the BOH. They must consider only the same material as the committee. If you send a letter, no one will read it. They will throw it away! The postcards are a demonstration of public support for the proposals.
Also, mark your calendars now for July 24th. We must PACK the
room! When we know the details for location of the BOH meeting, we'll post that to the website too. (While you're visiting our website, stop by the forums and say hi. We're a fledgling group eager to grow our numbers!)
Hi! I'm the Chair of the recently organized Nebraska Friends of Midwives. Our organization is working to spread the word about what's going on with the state government in relation to homebirth.
The Nebraska Board of Health is currently looking at the possibility of recommending to the legislature that CPMs (direct-entry midwives) be licensed in our state, and that CNMs be allowed to attend homebirths. During this process, a Technical Review Committee (TRC) first looks at all the information related to the proposals, then they make their recommendation to the BOH, and the BOH makes an official recommendation to the legislature. The TRC recently decided to recommend AGAINST legalization, and now their recommendation goes on to the BOH.
This is extremely important!! If the BOH recommends in favor of these proposals, much of our work with the legislature is taken care of. If it recommends against, we aren't back where we started - we're further back, swimming upstream against a negative recommendation.
So, there are two things you need to know about. 1. Our postcard campaign, described below, and 2. The meeting of the BOH on July 24th at 1:00 in Lincoln. We are gathering a HUGE number of people together to pack the room (and the HALLS!) on that day.
We must let the BOH know that there are more than "44-100 people" (to quote a TRC committee member) who support the legalization of midwife-attended homebirth in Nebraska.
Here's what you need to do:
Go to www.nemidwives.org to learn more about the 407 Review process, and to download postcards. You can print the postcards out on cardstock (it comes out 4 to a page), then cut them out, sign, stamp and send.
Talk to ALL your friends who might be interested in sending a postcard. We'd love for everybody to get postcards to ten more people (50 would be great too, but we'll shoot for ten.)
Tell your friends something like this: "Did you know homebirth is illegal in NE? The NE Board of Health is considering a recommendation to the unicameral regarding legalizing homebirth midwives, and I belong to a group that's trying to show public support for doing so. Would you be willing to sign your name to a postcard to show you support a family's right to choose where they
give birth?" Or something like that. I have several friends who are in deeply committed relationships with their epidurals who nonetheless believe that other women should be able to give birth at home if they want to.
If you're wondering why postcards and why not letters, it's because no new "testimony" or information is allowed for consideration by the BOH. They must consider only the same material as the committee. If you send a letter, no one will read it. They will throw it away! The postcards are a demonstration of public support for the proposals.
Also, mark your calendars now for July 24th. We must PACK the
room! When we know the details for location of the BOH meeting, we'll post that to the website too. (While you're visiting our website, stop by the forums and say hi. We're a fledgling group eager to grow our numbers!)
