Birthing Families Need Your Help!

Please consider these facts:

According to the CDC over 99,000 people die each year in the United States after picking up bacterial infections in the hospital and newborns are especially susceptible to these infections.

Newborns are generally protected from germs in their own homes by the antibodies they receive through the placenta before birth and through their mother’s breast milk.

The Cesarean section rate has risen to over 31% in the United States. According to a 2006 CNN report, the United States has the second worst newborn death rate in the modern world despite having the most neonatalogists and neonatal intensive care beds per person. The countries with better outcomes utilize many more midwives and integrate them into the healthcare
system. Using less technology and following the midwives model of care as standard procedure has helped these countries to save lives and money.

There are two types of midwives that are nationally accredited by the NCCA, Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) and Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs).

South Dakota only licenses nurse midwives and limits their practices.

Twenty-four states already license home birth midwives and twenty other states including South Dakota are working on licensure legislation.

The CPM 2000 study published in the British Medical Journal in 2005 (which included over 5000 home births mostly in the United States) showed that home births attended by professional midwives had an equal mortality rate with far fewer interventions when compared to low risk hospital births.

South Dakota families can legally have home births but most cannot find a qualified attendant to assist them. (This is because professional midwives are currently not recognized in SD law and nurse midwives rarely attend home births – less than 1% nationwide.)

The limited access to midwives in our state is causing many home birth families to birth unassisted or travel out-of-state to have a midwife-assisted out-of-hospital birth. These families want quality care for mother and baby and would prefer to hire a licensed midwife to help
them in their own homes.

Approximately forty South Dakota families have out-of-hospital births every year.

Would you be willing to help pass legislation to address these issues? Please join SD Safe Childbirth Options and help us defend South Dakota midwives and the families they serve.

To contact South Dakota Safe Childbirth Options, Inc., call or email our Co-Chairs, Quint & Debbie Pease, at 605-563-2363 or chair@sdsafebirth.org.

Visit us on the web at sdsafebirth.org.