This Comic is sort of related to the Musing: Big Push for Midwives!

If you’d like to leave a comment, please scroll down to the next available non-comic blog entry, you know, a word-y one (For a myriad of reasons I turn off the comments on the comics themselves)…and comment away, I love to hear from you!!!!

Order this Cartoon as a 8.5 x 11 print on glossy photo paper and signed for only $10!

This Press Release Just in:

PushNews from The Big Push for Midwives Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, February 7, 2008

ACOG: Out of Touch with Needs of Childbearing Families

Trade Union claims out-of-hospital birth is “trendy;”
tries to play the “bad mother” card

(February 7, 2008) The American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists (ACOG), a trade union representing the financial and
professional interests of obstetricians, has issued the latest in a
series of statements condemning families who choose home birth and
calling on policy makers to deny them access to Certified Professional
Midwives. CPMs are trained as experts in out-of-hospital delivery and
as specialists in risk assessment and preventative care.

“It will certainly come as news to the Amish and other groups in this
country who have long chosen home birth that they’re simply being
‘trendy’ or ‘fashionable,’” said Katie Prown, PhD, Campaign Manager of
The Big Push for Midwives 2008. “The fact is, families deliver their
babies at home for a variety of very valid reasons, either because
they’re exercising their religious freedom, following their cultural
traditions or because of financial need. These families deserve access
to safe, quality and affordable maternity care, just like everyone
else.”

Besides referring to home birth as a fashionable “trend” and a “cause
célèbre” that families choose out of ignorance, ACOG’s latest
statement adds insult to injury by claiming that women delivering
outside of the hospital are bad mothers who value the childbirth
“experience” over the safety of their babies.

“ACOG has it backwards,” said Steff Hedenkamp, Communications
Coordinator of The Big Push and the mother of two children born at
home. “I delivered my babies with a trained, skilled professional
midwife because I wanted the safest out-of-hospital care possible. If
every state were to follow ACOG’s recommendations and outlaw CPMs,
families who choose home birth will be left with no care providers at
all. I think we can all agree that this is an irresponsible policy
that puts mothers and babies at risk.”

The Big Push for Midwives calls on ACOG to abandon these outdated
policies and work with CPMs to reduce the cesarean rate and to take
meaningful steps towards reducing racial and ethnic disparities in
birth outcomes in all regions of the United States. CPMs play a
critical role in both cesarean prevention and in the reduction of
low-birth weight and pre-term births, the two most preventable causes
of neonatal mortality.

Moreover, their training as specialists in out-of-hospital maternity
care qualifies CPMs as essential first-responders during disasters in
which hospitals become inaccessible or unsafe for laboring mothers. In
addition, CPMs work to ensure that all babies born outside of the
hospital undergo state-mandated newborn screenings and are provided
with legal and secure birth certificates.

Currently, Certified Nurse-Midwives, who work predominantly in
hospital settings, are licensed and regulated in all 50 states, while
Certified Professional Midwives, who work in out-of-hospital settings,
are licensed and regulated in 24 states, with legislation pending in
an additional 20 states.

The Big Push for Midwives Women are Weak!

Love,
Heather