The idea for the Walk for Midwives was born out of frustration for the lack of options available to birthing families in South Dakota - namely a severe shortage of midwives due to our outdated laws. When I received an email about a different kind of walk on July 16th, it got me thinking.

Four days later I was asking the SD Safe Childbirth Options board of directors for their help in planning a 4 mile walk in 11 communities in 7 days ending on my 44th birthday on August 27th. This walk would be used as a catalyst to energize midwife supporters, educate the public and raise money to continue our work in the state legislature.

Certified Professional Midwives, the specialists in out-of-hospital birth, have been delivering amazing outcomes across the country for almost 2 decades. Sadly, legal restrictions prevent them from practicing in South Dakota and severely limit the practice of Certified Nurse Midwives. The map below shows the limited access to midwives that South Dakota families face. Debbie Pease

Home Birth Safety Act Draws Unprecedented Support
South Dakota Poised to Join 25 Other States in Strengthening
Out-of-Hospital Maternity Care Standards

PIERRE, SD — At 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday, February 10, the Home Birth Safety Act (House Bill 1179) will be debated in the Health and Human Services Committee in Room 412 at the Capitol, as families across the
state make plans to converge on the Capitol to call on their awmakers to license and regulate Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs), who are trained as specialists in out-of-hospital maternity care.

Prime sponsor of the bill, Senator Larry Rhoden (R) is hearing these families very clearly. “This bill is a win-win for South Dakota. It gives families that have made the decision to deliver their babies at home the ability to hire a professional, which in turn makes home birth safer in South Dakota.”

According to the Department of Health, the infant death rate for out-of-hospital births from 2001 to 2005 was three times the state’s average. “These numbers are appalling,” said Debbie Pease, Co-Chair of South Dakota Safe Childbirth Options (SDSCO). “Unfortunately, they are directly related to the inability of our home birth families to gain legal access to quality prenatal and maternity care from professional midwives who are nationally certified.”

Representative Roger Hunt (R), prime sponsor in the House, agreed. “Families in our state are giving birth at home for a wide range of reasons, often due to financial, cultural, philosophical or practical concerns. They deserve the protection provided by having access to licensed Certified Professional Midwives.”

Under current law, families who deliver their babies outside of the hospital must do without the assistance of a licensed midwife.

A major step in making waves for CPMs in South Dakota is to consistently have our voices published in local newspapers by submitting a Letter to the Editor. This is free advertising of our point of view, plus most legislators read these daily. Letters to the Editor are typically about 200-250 words (the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls has a limit of 300). These letters are a great way to educate the public, and they work best if we come across as educated, reasonable people – no ranting and raving allowed. You can use the SDSCO Lobbying Lessons (conveniently archived at sdSafeBirth.org) as the foundation for each of the letters you submit. Each lesson highlights a key point of the issue, and bringing those various aspects to the public and legislators will be important in generating support for the Home Birth Safety Act.

There are many different angles one can take when writing a letter, and we want to cover as many angles as possible. Whether you focus on personal experience, statistics, or common sense, there are two major points we want to incorporate in each letter:
1. The CPM is a nationally recognized credential that is working well in 26 states.
2. We need state legislators to pass the Home Birth Safety Act in order to have access to these skilled midwives.

Grassroots strategy:
In a perfect world, we would have back-to-back letters published every day in every local newspaper in the state, praising the value of CPMs every day from now until the bill passes. At least a handful of people in each district would be e-mailing the online link for that day's published letter directly into their legislators' e-mail boxes. They would address their legislator by name, add a personal sentence or two, the URL for the Letter to the Editor (maybe also a direct link to the British Medical Journal CPM study), plus end with their full name, street address, and phone number.

South Dakota Safe Childbirth Options, Inc. (SDSCO) is a group of concerned families operating under Christian principles promoting safe and responsible birth options. SDSCO is dedicated to protecting midwives and families and to educating the public about the safety and practicality of midwife-attended home birth, other birth options, and related issues concerning the health and safety of women and children.