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the lack of options available to birthing families in South Dakota - namely a severe shortage of midwives due to our outdated laws.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.

This year’s Healthy Birth Conference will take place October 10th-11th in the heart of the Black Hills at Crazy Horse Memorial Conference Center near Custer. Hiking, Biking, Rock Climbing, National Monuments, National Parks, Caves and history museums all at the doorstep of Custer and Crazy Horse Memorial will give your family plenty to do during the conference weekend. The word on the street is that the 1880 Train may still be offering fall foliage rides in October! Off-season rates for hotels and cabins or campgrounds with RV parking and tent spaces (for the hearty) make the Black Hills affordable during this beautiful time of year.

In keeping with the tradition of past Healthy Birth Conferences, we will continue with ‘natural family living’ workshops and are adding topics to appeal to a wider audience and to expand the educational component identified in our mission statement. Among the new topics are:
Birth Plans – a dialogue between consumers and medical rofessionals,
Grandmother’s Stories of Childbirth,
Writing a Will: Families With Underage Children and
Cranial Sacral Therapy for the birth year and beyond.

Watch for announcements about keynote speakers in the coming months.

Native American Day on the 13th is a big deal at Crazy Horse Memorial with storytellers, dancers and many other family activities, so consider staying an extra day for this educational celebration.

Please contact Tanya Olson at 605-673-5517 or lilyspad@gwtc.net for information on lodging, activities, conference topics you
would really like to see this year or to volunteer to help with the conference.

By Lisa Van Gerpen, CNM, SDSCO Advisory Board Member

I feel passing SB34 (the CNM bill) is MAJOR progress for both the legislature and the Board of Medicine and my hope is that it will be utilized to its full extent. If you had heard the Board of Medicine meetings, I think you would agree it's a miracle they passed it. They are not bad people; they just really believe that homebirth is dangerous because of personal experience, training, and the negative stories that make the news. When I started as a CNM 10 years ago most people thought I was crazy and didn't understand midwifery at all or why people would choose that option over a doctor. If I met someone and they asked what I did, it was always an interesting response. Now, more often than not they give positive comments like: a family member had a midwife and loved it; they want one someday, etc. People seem to now have respect for midwives even though they may not choose one themselves.

Home birth in this state, as I'm sure you're all aware, is still at the point where many people do not understand it or respect a family’s wishes to do it. I think part of that is the bad press and perception that it is illegal, therefore bad. Having good records of CNMs legally assisting at home births could go a long way to legitimize the practice in the eyes of legislators and the public in general. It will give proof that home birth with a trained midwife is a viable option.

I know it will take a special CNM to be willing to practice in rural South Dakota where home births are few and far between, but having the support of the state’s home birth families will go a long way to make this happen. As an SDSCO advisory board member, I have encouraged the SDSCO board to do what they can to recruit home birth friendly CNMs into the state. Not only will this increase options for SD families, but it will give student midwives an opportunity to have a preceptor within the state.

By Alaina Kerkhove, SDSCO Vice Chair

We were able to gain much more support among the legislators this year. We are gaining momentum! Let’s keep up the good work by continuing all year to contact those who are running for the legislature in November. Each and every one of you makes a difference; we have to keep pushing ahead. We are so close to getting CPM legislation passed.

Debbie and I had the great honor of attending The Big Push gathering in Chicago Illinois in November. This meeting was full of a lot of great information. One of the things that came up over and over was how helping with legislative campaigns can be very helpful in gaining credibility and support among the legislators. According to Katie Prown from Wisconsin “Just a small group, which volunteered for a total of 7 key legislators in both parties, was THE single reason we were able to kill our repeal attempt before it got drafted and convert the majority leader in the Senate from an opponent to a supporter.”

In South Dakota we will be voting on every state House and Senate position this year. This election will give homebirth supporters an opportunity to take action and get to know key legislators in our state. In turn, helping with campaigns may just be what helps us to get our bill passed next year.

Here are a few ways that volunteers can help with campaigns:
? Passing out stickers/brochures at sporting events or door to door
? Helping at parades
? Organizing or helping with fundraisers or donating money to a candidate
? Setting up a legislative gathering
? Helping with mailings
? Helping with the primary election on June 3 or the General Election on November 4

PRAISE for all those who contacted
their legislators this legislative session!

PRAISE for our rental house in Pierre!

PRAISE for the midwife advocates
from across the country who are sharing
their wisdom with us!

PRAISE for the courageous midwives
quietly working behind the scenes
risking their freedom and finances to
serve South Dakota families!

Pray for wisdom, courage and
perseverance for the leadership of
SDSCO.

Pray for continued financial assistance.

Pray for those in other states who are
working towards legislation which will
increase access to skilled midwives.

Pray for the families who are expecting
a baby, that God will bless and guide
them as they plan for their births.

Greetings to all SDSCO members and supporters: Well here we are and it appears we are finished for another year and we can tuck our fact sheets back into our bookbags and put all the legislative info and numbers into file 13. To some I am sure you have sighed a sigh of defeat and also frustration and you may think why can’t these legislators get this? I mean we have an ironclad case for our cause of licensing CPMs in our state. Now why can’t everyone else get it!!!

This being my second year as lobbyist I do have some observations to share with you all. Now just reflect on what happened and how far we progressed. 3 votes… we needed only three legislators to change their minds and vote for us and we would be singing the victory song. The vote being 35-31 with some members absent and with 3 voting for us it would have been 34-32 and we would have been grinning. So do you all think that’s progress from last year? I would think it is and you all know what you did to get this far. So congratulations!

Now how did this happen that we came so far? Reflect on what we did last year. We continued to be in touch with our legislators throughout the year with cards and letters. We had legislative workshops with all the legislators invited to attend in various cities throughout our state. Dr Heather Margaret and family

Four ladies on our eight member board as well as our newsletter editor are expecting babies. Please keep Chandelle Brink, Tammi Chaney, Tenille Manning Heier, Jenny Vollmer, Nadine West, their families and all the expectant families across the state in your thoughts and prayers as they prepare for their births.

With the close of the 2008 legislative session, we begin a new leg of our journey on the road to access to skilled midwives for all SD families. We made huge progress this past year. SB34, which provides an avenue for CNMs to attend home births, passed both houses with an overwhelming majority and has been signed into law by Governor Rounds. The CNMs put in a tremendous amount of work getting this agency bill which was supported by the Dept. of Health, Board of Nursing and Medical Board. All the work you did throughout the year contacting legislators, responding to articles and attending SDSCO events also contributed to this success. The legislators have noticed all you are doing and many really want to help home birth families.

SDSCO plans to make the most of this new access to CNMs in the state. Nationwide about 1% of CNMs attend home births. We will do what we can to recruit and support CNMs willing to assist home birth families in South Dakota. This will not deter us from our goal to get CPMs licensed in our State. Huge progress is being made across the country. As this newsletter goes to print there are still several states with a good chance of passing CPM licensure bills this year and the Big Push for Midwives is making national news. We are now part of a national effort and the support we are receiving from veteran midwifery advocates from across the country is amazing!