Many of you have been in the trenches doing the legislative grunt work for years wondering, “Why won’t they just let us have our midwives?” Please don’t be discouraged. We are gaining ground every year. This year we have made great strides with the Department of Health and Board of Nursing. Because of our consistent presence in the legislature, they are starting to listen.

We have been talking with the Board of Nursing and the nurse midwives about a bill that would license and regulate both Certified Professional Midwives and Certified Nurse Midwives who attend out of hospital births. The Medical Board may still come up with a bill that would give CNMs doing home births an exemption from the collaborative agreement. If this happens, we would not oppose that bill, but we would still introduce legislation that would license and regulate CPMs.

The doctors & hospital associations are going to oppose us no matter what. They are against home birth in any form and will do nothing to make it safer. But the legislators are starting to listen to us; in fact they are getting really tired of hearing about this issue every year. They say “the squeaky wheel gets greased,” so please keep squeaking! We are optimistic that they are ready to find a solution to our problem of access to midwives in the home birth setting.

We have many supporters who have stepped up to be District Contacts again this year. We are so grateful for their help! Let them know when you speak with or get a written response from a legislator. (Find your district at http://www.vote-smart.org.) It is so helpful for us to know what the legislators are saying to their constituents. Also let them know when you are planning on going to Pierre. We are going to be so organized this year the legislators won’t know what hit them!

The SD Medical Association is already talking to your legislators, telling them what a bad idea home birth is. If we are going to break through this year, it is going to take every one of us doing our part. You know the drill: write to your legislators and the governor. (It really makes a difference!) Study the info on page 5 and talk to your legislators.

This year’s session is only 35 days long spread out over 8 weeks during January and February. We won’t know our hearing dates or bill number until we get to the session. Please do NOT wait for a bill number to write to your legislators. They need to hear from you now! Check out our website for letter writing tips and other valuable information at SDSafeBirth.org.

Having a lot of supporters there definitely impresses the legislators. We did a great job last year of packing the committee room to over flowing. This year we need to do as well at packing the gallery on the day our bill is heard on the floor. If you are not already on our email list, please join so that you will get the most up to date information during the legislative session (contact us at chair@sdsafebirth.org or 563-2363 to be added).