Midwives in Utah

Well, the Utah Legislature is at it again. Two years ago the Direct-entry Midwives finally succeeded in getting a bill passed in the Utah legislature to officially legalize homebirth with a direct-entry midwife and allow a form of licensure for those homebirth midwives that want to be able to carry and administer certain drugs that they are not allowed to otherwise. The battle to get this law passed actually started at least 5 years ago and I was involved with the lobbying the year that it passed and the year prior to the passing. I have sent emails to my legislators and met with a few of them in person. I have spent hours at the Utah Capitol building attending committee meetings and trying to meet with legislators. Just when we thought that things were in the clear, a senator from Utah County has introduced an amendment to the bill last Friday that would just about make it impossible for the overwhelming majority of women to qualify for a homebirth with a licensed direct-entry midwife (LDEM).

The senator's name is Margaret Dayton and she was an OB nurse and her husband is an OB/GYN. The LDEMs that are currently licensed with the state looked over their clients/births from the previous year and determined that 96% of those births would not have qualified for a homebirth under the current amendment changes.

Everyone is hoping that this bill will be killed quickly because it is so unreasonable. There have been a couple of studies recently published that should also help our cause. In addition to these studies (one of which is by the Utah State Health Department), the report to the Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) was nothing but positive. The law that was passed 2 years ago required the LDEM board to compile statistics each year of mother/baby outcomes and to determine if any negligence is occurring in any of the LDEM practices.

All of the midwives have fought so long and hard for the law that we currently have that it would be so sad to see that ruined by this senator who is trying to instill unfounded fear in her fellow legislators. The truly amazing part of the law that was passed is that in addition to allowing midwives to become licensed, it still allows midwives who choose not to license to practice without fear of prosecution. I believe Utah was the first state to pass such a law.

The biggest thing that we all wanted to accomplish with this bill was to allow women to CHOOSE where they give birth and to allow them to CHOOSE a care provider that they feel the most comfortable and confident with. There are no guarantees with birth, but some women feel that more complications are introduced when giving birth in a hospital. Midwives are there with a woman the whole labor and are trained in "normal" birth and how to detect when something is not right before it has escalated to an "emergency".

Here are some links to some studies for those of you interested in reading them or wonder about the safety of homebirth:

DOPL Outcome Report for LDEM homebirths from January 2006-August 2006
British Medical Journal Study on planned homebirths in North America for the year 2000
Utah Health Department Study Home Birth Trends in Utah, 1992-2005