I'm Sad Today

Since Adam and I first considered moving to South Dakota, I've been somewhat involved with a group that is working to pass legislation through the SD state congress which would permit homebirth with direct-entry midwives (those who are trained to attend births, but may not be an RN or have a graduate degree). This morning the bill was debated in the SD House Health and Human Services Committee. I was not able to attend the hearing in Pierre, but when all was said and done, the committee voted 10-3 against the bill, citing the fatuous grounds that licensing Certified Professional Midwives would lower the standards of care within the state. One of the committee members, a physician, is quoted in an article about the vote as saying, "We must keep in mind the fate of the newborn or unborn child."

I am sad to see that these individuals we as taxpayers have entrusted to speak on our behalf cannot take a moment to read any of the hundreds of peer-reviewed studies showing the safety of homebirth with a trained attendant. One of the group members who did attend the hearing commented that every single speaker for the bills opposition was a paid lobbyist or staff member of a medical organization--the very people who stand to lose (money) if this legislation is enacted.

If you don't take a chance to look at the article, I did want to share this one quote with you, because it just seems to exemplify the absurd lack of logic followed by those voting the bill down.

South Dakota had more than 12,000 live births in 2007, and only 26 of those babies were born at home, said Doneen Hollingsworth, state Health Department secretary. Only 19 of those were intended to be home births, which indicates home births are not supported by most South Dakotans, she said.