The result of the introduction of the Certified Professional Midwife licensure bill in Maryland this past spring was the order by the state legislative committee to create a midwifery work group to look at why there is such a shortage of homebirth nurse-midwives and to look at the overall issue of CPM licensure. The work group has met twice so far and the third meeting is on 9/20.
Maryland Families for Safe Birth is looking for members of the public to attend the meeting as well as certain individuals to speak during the brief time allotted for public comment. The meeting space isn't huge so there is the chance that not everyone who attends will get a space in the meeting room. Please respond to Jeremy Galvin if you plan to attend and if you are interested in speaking.
We have now had three of our homebirth nurse-midwives in Maryland have their license to practice taken away by the Maryland Board of Nursing. A fourth is under investigation and no longer doing births in Maryland. Since we had already lost one CPM already, our ICAN chapter has been receiving regular inquiries from women wondering what homebirth options they still have available to them. The options are few and licensure is the only way I see to restore full birthing options to Maryland women. Please make sure that you have signed up for email alerts from Maryland Families for Safe Birth and donate as much time and money as you can to their efforts.
One of those 3 midwives is my midwife. And that makes me angry. I'm hoping everything gets resolved soon and everyone gets their lives back. This is just ridiculous. Women should be able to give birth wherever and with whomever they like. End of story.
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