Michelle's blog

Sign Petition to help ReOpen Birth Center!

Please join the women and families of New York City, members of the birth community, supporters of informed birth choices, and advocates of social justice everywhere. Ask the Bellevue Hospital Administration to reevaluate the decision to close the only Medicaid-accepting Birth Center in Manhattan; the closure of the Birth Center deprives low-income women access to Birth Center care that is not only empowering and supportive, but proven to have better outcomes than hospital birth.
 

Mothers being denied support in labor

With the threat of the H1N1 virus ever present, hospitals all over the country are restricting the number of support people women can have with them during labor.  These restrictions are not only having a huge impact on doulas, but also on expectant families who are now having to make last minute decisions on who will support them during their birth.

Here is a quote from DONA's President which comes from their recently issued press release.

ICEA joins CIMS and takes a stand for patient choice.

In response to a biased and sensationalized segment featured on NBC"s The Today Show, CIMS along with 44 co-signing organiztions (ICEA included) reiterated their support for informed patient decision-making in a strong statement that sites the research evidence regarding the safe choises of home birth and midwifery care.

The segment, "The Perils of Midwifery" (later renamed "The Perils of Home Birth" online), which aired on Sept. 11, inaccurately implied that hospitals are the safest place for low-risk women to give birth and mischaracterized women who choose home birth as 'hedonists,' going so far as to suggest that these women are putting their birth experiences above the safety of their babies.  Neither could be further from the truth.

Read the full correspondence, including the research citations, in CIMS’ One Voice Response to The Today Show (PDF).

Demand accurate reporting of all birth options
by adding your name to an online petition sponsored by NYC-based
Choices in Childbirth that will be hand-delivered to NBC’s The Today
Show on Oct. 9.