“…Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly... Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated...”

Thomas Paine wrote this in an article titled “The American Crisis” published on December 23, 1776 after the Continental Army had been driven out of New Jersey. When I read this, I think of how many times we’ve been “driven out” of the legislature, but more importantly I think of how GREAT the victory will be when we finally defeat our opposition.

I will not promise that our legislation will pass in 2007, but I will tell you that SDSCO is more organized now than it has ever been before. The work of past leaders and the present Board of Directors is coming together. Debbie Pease has been working very hard on organizing supporters in each of the legislative districts. We still need more volunteers to help coordinate information being sent to legislators in each of the districts. We need YOUR help. The rest of the board has been hard at work as well researching, writing legislation & fact sheets and having babies (Congratulations to Jenny Vollmer and her family on their new addition.).

A dedicated group of SDSCO members led by Karina Seppanen has been busy having fundraisers and organizing the 2006 Healthy Birth Conference to be held in Watertown on October 13th & 14th. This group has taken such a big load off the board. I can’t thank them enough! Thanks to all the fundraising and donations from this group, we were able to greatly lower the registration fees this year. Please check out the enclosed brochure and make plans to attend the
conference. It will be a great opportunity to learn more about healthy birth and healthy living!

A questionnaire was sent out in June to the candidates running for the House, Senate, and Governor. We sent out 209 questionnaires and received 54 responses and they are still trickling in. I have compiled all the answers into a Microsoft Word document. It is available to all supporters via email or the SDSCO chat group. Many of these candidates have questions that need to be answered by people living in their districts. The Board has several fact sheets available to help you when you contact candidates about their questions or about midwife-attended home birth in general. You can get the fact sheets from your District Contacts, Debbie Pease or download them from our website (SDSCO.2truth.com).

A rough draft of our legislation for 2007 has been written. We have titled our bill The Independent Midwifery Practice Act. If passed it would provide for the licensing of Certified Professional Midwives in South Dakota. We are working on a way to include CNMs in the legislation as well. A few more changes will be made and then we will send the draft to Ida Darragh from NARM for review. We will also be speaking to potential sponsors soon. We learned a great deal from Ida when she came to SD in April, and we are turning her suggestions to actions.

A time-line has been set up (see page 2), so that we can keep making progress toward victory in 2007. We need each and everyone’s help to reach these goals. Please do not take this next year lightly. I know that this has been a long, hard road. It can be very discouraging, but I have such hope for 2007. The Board and many other SDSCO members have been working very hard. Please don’t let our efforts be in vain. We need everyone to contact the candidates in your district, including each candidate for governor and the chairs for the Health and Human Services Committees. We also need your prayers and your supportive encouragement.

I see God working in this plan that He has made available to us. We all know that God likes to win against all odds. The obstacles seem so high, but He is there and in control. God bless each one in this fight to win back our freedom.