Articles >> News >> An Open Letter to Our Legislators from VBF

An Open Letter to Our Legislators from Virginia Birthing Freedom

Nov. 13, 2000

The current prohibition of midwifery (§ 32.1-147) stands in obvious violation of Virginia Code § 54.1-100, which begins:

The right of every person to engage in any lawful profession, trade or occupation of his choice is clearly protected by both the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Commonwealth cannot abridge such rights except as a reasonable exercise of its police powers when it is clearly found that such abridgment is necessary for the preservation of the health, safety and welfare of the public. No regulation shall be imposed upon any profession or occupation except for the exclusive purpose of protecting the public interest...
 
The Joint Commission on Health Care spent a year studying midwifery in Virginia and the JCHC voted that Certified Professional Midwives (CPM) should be licensed.  Under the statute quoted above, proponents of CPM licensure do not assume the burden of proof.  Rather, it is the responsibility of those who oppose licensure to show clearly that "such abridgment is necessary for the preservation of the health, safety and welfare of the public."

As the JCHC concluded, and as the Virginia OB/GYN Society freely admitted in last year's Senate Education and Health subcommittee meeting, there is no evidence to show that home birth is unsafe or that midwives are not practicing safely in other US states.  Most other US states allow CPMs to practice legally.  In fact, Virginia is one of only nine states with severe restrictions on midwifery.

If the legislature feels compelled to restrict a profession dedicated to serving pregnant women in order to "protect the public interest," it might consider the following:

• The US is ranked 36th in infant mortality.  35 other nations do better than the US in helping babies to be born healthy.  (From the US World Factbook 2000, Infant Mortality Rate.  (http://www.bartleby.com/151/a28.html )
• Lifetime risk of maternal death is lower in 19 other nations (www.safemotherhood.org ).
• The US Centers for Disease Control say that the real maternal mortality rate in the US is significantly underreported: "The number of deaths attributed to pregnancy and its complications is estimated to be 1.3 to three times that reported in vital statistics records..."
  (www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00054602.htm).
• It is by now common knowledge that tens of thousands of Americans die each year due to medical mistakes made in hospitals.  In fact, medical error is now the third leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the American Medical Association (July 26, 2000 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association).

Midwives are not responsible for these statistics.  In fact, countries with better infant mortality rates, better maternal mortality rates, lower cesarean section rates, and lower rates of other interventions and complications during childbirth generally have far higher percentages of home births and midwife-attended births.  And they do all this with lower per capita health care costs than the US (which has the highest per capita health care costs in the world).  Lower costs, better results...shouldn't Virginia be leading the way rather than lagging behind?

As the bill to legalize Certified Professional Midwives is considered by the legislature, we ask you to consider how would the framers of Virginia Code § 54.1-100 would vote on HB 1582.  How will you vote?  We the people are counting on you.

Sincerely,
Virginia Birthing Freedom

VBF is a network of individuals and organizations dedicated to ensuring that families who choose out of hospital birth will have access to midwifery care.  http://vbfree.org/.

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