Fight Florida's Ban on VBACs in Birthing Centers!
Join
the fight to change the State of Florida's ban on VBACs in birthing
centers. Yes, that is right, the state is telling you how to birth your
child. The Florida Alliance of Birth Centers has retained an attorney
to challenge the legislative rule banning a woman's option to attempt a
vaginal birth after c-section. With c-section rates in Florida hospitals
easily reaching 70% and 80%, our choices are being limited. PUSH BACK
for VBACs!
Would you have paid $100 to have your VBAC?
Currently
the State of Florida’s legislative rule governing birth centers is
written in a manor which has now been used to ban women from choosing
VBACs with any licensed practitioner in a free standing birth center.
With cesarean rates in some Florida hospitals easily reaching the 70%
mark or more, a woman’s ability to choose the manner in which she births
is being taken away.
The
CDC has reported a decline of over 67% in VBACs over the last ten
years, with no decrease to the maternal or infant mortality rate. It is
well documented that newborns delivered by planned or scheduled
cesarean are at increased risk of respiratory and other morbidity
compared with newborns delivered vaginally or even by emergent cesarean.
Mother’s risks of undergoing the major abdominal surgery know as a
cesarean section include massive blood loss, clots, infection and DEATH
at a significantly higher rate than that of a woman undergoing a normal
and natural VBAC. All the while these statistics are swept under the
rug by OB-GYN physicians. All for the sake of time management and an
elusive malpractice rate reduction which has in fact risen.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has itself issued this statement:
Cesarean
delivery is associated with an increased risk of postpartum maternal
death. Knowledge of the causes of death associated with this excess
risk informs contemporary discussion about cesarean delivery on request
and should inform preventive strategies.
– Catherine Deneux-Tharaux, MD,
Yet
Physicians continue to practice in a manner that is not consistent with
the evidenced based model of care which modern medicine is based on.
With over 51% of all humans in Miami-Dade county born via cesarean, and
hospitals using fear tactics and out right lies to prevent women from
VBAC in hospitals, free standing birth centers remain the only choice
for many women. Vaginal births are becoming a thing of the past.
So I ask once again: Would you have paid $100 to have your VBAC?
If
your answer is yes, please consider paying it forward and donating to
the pushing 4 vbacs initiative. BirthGirlz, a Florida Non profit group ,
in conjunction with the Human Services Coalition 501 (c) (3), and the
Florida Alliance of Birth Centers need your tax deductible donation to
help pay for an experienced attorney to petition and litigate the State
of Florida. As it currently stands VBACs at home with a licensed midwife
are legal, but midwives working in birth centers are not permitted to
so much as give prenatal care to these very same mothers. Please help
us help the future of normal, natural birth. Please donate today.
Click here to sign our petition in support of a Mother Friendly Hospital in South Florida. To Learn more about the Mother Friendly Hospital Initiative, visit www.motherfriendly.org.
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More Information
Leah L. Albers, CNM, DrPH, FACNM, FAAN
Grassroots Network Message 905025
Action Alert: Birth Center Bill introduced!
Dear Friends,
Great news! The bill providing for Medicaid reimbursement for birth centers has now been introduced! This is the bill we’ve mentioned in several previous grassroots network messages. Birth centers are owned and operated by both Certified Professional Midwives and by Certified Nurse Midwives, provide high quality cost-effective care, and serve many Medicaid clients. A recent court ruling will eliminate reimbursement even in the states that have been reimbursing through Medicaid, which will result in many birth centers closing. So this bill ties right in with the Obama Administration’ s aims for health care reform: to increase access to care that is high quality and cost-effective, that saves us money, that is prevention-oriented and evidence-based.
Below is a Legislative Alert from the American Association of Birth Centers. AABC can use everyone’s help lining up additional co-sponsors for the bill in the House, and identifying sponsors in the Senate, where the bill has not yet been introduced.
