Radical Doula

Sylvia from a new organization, Where’s my midwife? sent me this video. It chronicles the response to a Wilmington, NC ob-gyn practice that one day decided to fire all their midwives. The physicians told them that they didn’t want to “wait around for the midwifery patients to give birth.” This is unfortunately not a new or unique story. It’s happening all around the country. Midwives need autonomy from doctors who can control their ability to practice.

I got chills multiple times while watching.

It’s a success story, as their grassroots organizing resulted in a reversal of the antiquated hospital policy that required an OB to be present when a woman was giving birth with a midwife. Doesn’t look like the midwives got rehired though.

This movement is growing, that’s for sure. In just the three years I’ve been writing this blog, the activism and activity around this issue has exploded. There are so many more doulas, midwives, parent advocates. Things are getting worse in the world of birth, and it’s getting people activated.

Where’s My Midwife is continuing their activism beyond this one instance, and working to open a Birth and Wellness Center in Wilmington NC in May 2015.

St. Vincent’s is closing. It’s a bad situation for many involved, the women who gave birth there, the other patients who received care there. No attempts at saving the hospital have worked.

Another result of the closure is that the NYC home birth midwives no longer have a back-up hospital or WPA (written practice agreement). They need this WPA, signed by a doctor, in order to practice in NY, even though those doctors have little to no involvement in their practice. St. Vincent’s was one of the only supportive hospitals in the city.

About half of the homebirth midwives in NYC have found other people to back them up–but the other half are stuck. At midnight tonight, they can no longer practice legally, despite the fact that they are licensed practitioners.

It’s a mess, and the NY government is not considering this an emergency because their patients can “just give birth in a hospital.”

We all know why this is unacceptable.

You can help. Take action today to put pressure on the NY State Department of Health:

YOU MUST ACT NOW to save the home birth option for New York Women:

Call:

• 311
• Wendy Saunders, Executive Deputy Commissioner for the NY State Department of Health, appointed by Governor Paterson. 518-474-8390
• Larry Mokhiber, the Secretary of the Board of Midwifery (518-474-3817, extension 130)

And say….

With the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital, half of the licensed, highly trained home birth midwives serving NYC have lost their Written Practice Agreement (WPA).   St Vincent’s was the only Hospital in the city supportive of a woman’s right to choose a home birth and willing to sign a WPA.  In the weeks since it’s announced closure, these midwives have reached out to hospitals and obstetricians all across the city looking for support, with no success.  Please help us to save the homebirth option in New York.

People can also email the Governor at http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/GovernorContactForm.php.

For a few months now, news has been circulating that St. Vincent’s, a Catholic hospital in NYC’s Lower East Side West Village was facing closure due to crippling debt.

It’s a Catholic hospital, which means no abortion procedures, no emergency contraception, and probably some other shitty anti-choice practices as well.

But it’s also one of the best hospitals for birth in NYC. Not only has St. Vincent’s been the back up hospital for most NYC home birth midwives, it’s also done a lot over the last year and a half to reduce c-sections and improve conditions. Doulas, midwives and VBACs were supported by the labor and delivery ward there.

Well now it seems the closing is definite.

It’s not just NYC that facing this kind of problem–in Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital is also facing potential closure. It’s a hospital that serves many un and under-insured patients in the Miami area, and also has relationships with midwives.

For a movement that wants to get birth out of the hospital, you’d think we’d be happy to have hospitals closing. But we need hospitals as back-ups for home and birthing center births. Also why is it always the birth friendly hospitals and centers that get shut down? I wonder if not doing enough c-sections is bad for the profit margins.

Sigh.

If you want to take action in NYC, check out Choices in Childbirth for petitions and actions.