OPPOSE HB496 UNLESS AMENDED
Oppose HB496 unless amended to Uphold Rights/Freedoms of Midwives and Birthing Families.
This bill is a licensing bill impacting non-nurse (traditional and CPM) midwives who historically have been an unregulated profession in Ohio attending families who give birth at home. Troublesome in this bill is the over-reach of a government entity into the bedrooms of home birthing families by eliminating options and choices for their birth currently available to them. Loss of personal childbearing freedoms will occur by
(1) creation of a criminal status for unlicensed midwives with loss of freedoms for childbearing families and practicing midwives by disallowing the practice of midwifery unless the individual holds a current valid license to practice. The unlicensed practice of midwifery would result in the midwife being guilty of a fifth degree felony.
(2) licensing of a non-nurse care provider by the Nursing Board who will create rules and regulations defining and restricting the licensed CPM provider and determining who is eligible to have a home birth or not.
Passage of this bill, as written, eliminates a large percentage of current practicing midwives in Ohio thus impacting personal freedoms of childbearing families and putting birthing families at risk of not being able to obtain skilled midwives to serve them at home. Rep. Koehler, the bill
sponsor, in his introduction of the bill, confusingly proclaims "the midwives in Ohio are not causing problems..they do not need to be fixed" yet puts forth a bill that will impact consumer access to trained, available midwifery care of their choice.
Amendments to this bill need to occur in order to retain basic birth freedoms for childbearing parents. In addition to addressing points (1) and (2) further protection of families could occur with an amendment to the bill with language clearly upholding the freedom of choice of birth place and provider for every childbearing woman.
Full text of the bill can be found at:
https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/solarapi/v1/general_assembly_134/bills/hb496/IN/00/hb496_0 0_IN?format=pdf paying particular attention to the most concerning sections of the bill: Sec 4723.54 (Pg. 74-75), Sec 4723.581 (Pg. 85-86), Sec 4723.60 (Pg. 92-95) D(1) and (2), and Sec 4723.99 (Pg. 95) (A).
Main Talking Points:
· Birth is a normal life event, not a medical event
· Midwives have been safely and satisfactorily serving families choosing to home birth for many decades in Ohio.
· Consumers are able to choose the best birth place and care provider for their individual family/circumstances.
· Legislation to license midwives should not criminalize unlicensed midwives for practicing as an unlicensed provider, as she always has been. The criminalization of one kind of midwife in order to regulate another type of midwife is unacceptable.
· Criminalizing currently unlicensed midwives increases risks and decreases freedoms and women’s choice for childbirth practitioner.
· The State of Ohio should be increasing women/family birth options, not decreasing and restricting their rights/freedoms.
· A medical board (Ohio Board of Nursing) should not be legislated to oversee the practices of non-nurse midwives and how they serve childbearing families.
· Maternal and Infant mortality rates for unlicensed midwives providing home birth services are extremely low. Satisfaction of families choosing to birth at home with a currently unlicensed midwife is extremely high.
· HB 496's primary sponsor, Rep. Kyle Koehler, in his introductory testimony of HB 496 when he said "This bill is not brought about to fix a problem. The midwives providing care in Ohio are not causing problems. They do not need to be fixed."
· Critical amendments of Sec. 4723.54, 4723.581, 4723.60 and 4723.99 need to occur in order to eliminate the criminalization of unlicensed midwives, give parents full ability to choose the birth place/provider of their choice, and assign a better-fit board for regulatory oversight of licensed midwives
Questions/Concerns:
1. Why has the State of Ohio not offered registration, rather than licensing of non-nurse midwives, as was recommended by the Direct-Entry Midwifery Study Council of 1998?
2. Why would the Ohio legislature pass a bill that will increase costs to the uninsured family and make it harder for them to find a midwife due to the criminalization that HB 496 will create?
3. If midwives have been serving Ohioans since time began, why are we now creating additional barriers for midwives to provide care to patients?
4. Why would the State of Ohio create a burdensome bureaucracy around birth when it is not useful or necessary?
5. Will this bill unintentionally harm the rural, uninsured, low-income or minority communities of the State, specifically the Amish and Mennonite?
6. What negative impacts will HB496 have on birth choice and women’s choice if midwives are restricted from functioning as they always have?
7. What are the barriers for midwives to become licensed? Who is responsible for the cost and time to become licensed? What are the unintended consequences for those midwives who find this process too burdensome? Will they lose their practice? Will they lose their clients? Representative Koehler pointed out, “Ohio still faces major healthcare service deserts and midwives are trained to fill those gaps.” How many midwives will be eliminating their services as a result of this bill?
OPPOSE HB496 UNLESS AMENDED
Oppose HB496 unless amended to Uphold Rights/Freedoms of Midwives and Birthing Families.
This bill is a licensing bill impacting non-nurse (traditional and CPM) midwives who historically have been an unregulated profession in Ohio attending families who give birth at home. Troublesome in this bill is the over-reach of a government entity into the bedrooms of home birthing families by eliminating options and choices for their birth currently available to them. Loss of personal childbearing freedoms will occur by
(1) creation of a criminal status for unlicensed midwives with loss of freedoms for childbearing families and practicing midwives by disallowing the practice of midwifery unless the individual holds a current valid license to practice. The unlicensed practice of midwifery would result in the midwife being guilty of a fifth degree felony.
(2) licensing of a non-nurse care provider by the Nursing Board who will create rules and regulations defining and restricting the licensed CPM provider and determining who is eligible to have a home birth or not.
Passage of this bill, as written, eliminates a large percentage of current practicing midwives in Ohio thus impacting personal freedoms of childbearing families and putting birthing families at risk of not being able to obtain skilled midwives to serve them at home. Rep. Koehler, the bill
sponsor, in his introduction of the bill, confusingly proclaims "the midwives in Ohio are not causing problems..they do not need to be fixed" yet puts forth a bill that will impact consumer access to trained, available midwifery care of their choice.
Amendments to this bill need to occur in order to retain basic birth freedoms for childbearing parents. In addition to addressing points (1) and (2) further protection of families could occur with an amendment to the bill with language clearly upholding the freedom of choice of birth place and provider for every childbearing woman.
Full text of the bill can be found at:
https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/solarapi/v1/general_assembly_134/bills/hb496/IN/00/hb496_0 0_IN?format=pdf paying particular attention to the most concerning sections of the bill: Sec 4723.54 (Pg. 74-75), Sec 4723.581 (Pg. 85-86), Sec 4723.60 (Pg. 92-95) D(1) and (2), and Sec 4723.99 (Pg. 95) (A).
Main Talking Points:
· Birth is a normal life event, not a medical event
· Midwives have been safely and satisfactorily serving families choosing to home birth for many decades in Ohio.
· Consumers are able to choose the best birth place and care provider for their individual family/circumstances.
· Legislation to license midwives should not criminalize unlicensed midwives for practicing as an unlicensed provider, as she always has been. The criminalization of one kind of midwife in order to regulate another type of midwife is unacceptable.
· Criminalizing currently unlicensed midwives increases risks and decreases freedoms and women’s choice for childbirth practitioner.
· The State of Ohio should be increasing women/family birth options, not decreasing and restricting their rights/freedoms.
· A medical board (Ohio Board of Nursing) should not be legislated to oversee the practices of non-nurse midwives and how they serve childbearing families.
· Maternal and Infant mortality rates for unlicensed midwives providing home birth services are extremely low. Satisfaction of families choosing to birth at home with a currently unlicensed midwife is extremely high.
· HB 496's primary sponsor, Rep. Kyle Koehler, in his introductory testimony of HB 496 when he said "This bill is not brought about to fix a problem. The midwives providing care in Ohio are not causing problems. They do not need to be fixed."
· Critical amendments of Sec. 4723.54, 4723.581, 4723.60 and 4723.99 need to occur in order to eliminate the criminalization of unlicensed midwives, give parents full ability to choose the birth place/provider of their choice, and assign a better-fit board for regulatory oversight of licensed midwives
Questions/Concerns:
1. Why has the State of Ohio not offered registration, rather than licensing of non-nurse midwives, as was recommended by the Direct-Entry Midwifery Study Council of 1998?
2. Why would the Ohio legislature pass a bill that will increase costs to the uninsured family and make it harder for them to find a midwife due to the criminalization that HB 496 will create?
3. If midwives have been serving Ohioans since time began, why are we now creating additional barriers for midwives to provide care to patients?
4. Why would the State of Ohio create a burdensome bureaucracy around birth when it is not useful or necessary?
5. Will this bill unintentionally harm the rural, uninsured, low-income or minority communities of the State, specifically the Amish and Mennonite?
6. What negative impacts will HB496 have on birth choice and women’s choice if midwives are restricted from functioning as they always have?
7. What are the barriers for midwives to become licensed? Who is responsible for the cost and time to become licensed? What are the unintended consequences for those midwives who find this process too burdensome? Will they lose their practice? Will they lose their clients? Representative Koehler pointed out, “Ohio still faces major healthcare service deserts and midwives are trained to fill those gaps.” How many midwives will be eliminating their services as a result of this bill?