Talking points

•  Michigan currently has no regulations, definitions for scope of 
   practice, or standards for the education of midwives practicing  
   outside a hospital.  Nor are they required to report their outcomes 
   to anyone.  Midwives are considered "a-legal" and monitor 
   themselves. 

• The CDC recently reported a 29% increase in home birth, 
   indicating an increase in mothers seeking out of hospital birth. 
   (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db84.htm)

• This bill offers women safer options for birth by establishing clear 
   standards for education and defined scope of practice for 
   midwives in Michigan.
 
• This bill does not take away a woman’s choice to have a baby at 
   home or in a birthing center. It ensures that a midwife, as the 
   care giver who would attend such birth, is fully educated, 
   licensed, insured, and functioning within her scope of practice, 
   defined by attending low-risk pregnancy.
 
• This bill supports collaboration between and among midwives and 
   obstetricians.
 
• This bill insists that midwives are accountable to the women they 
   serve by carrying malpractice insurance and reporting all 
   outcomes.
 
• This bill is an important step in keeping mothers and babies as 
   safe as possible, regardless of care giver or place of birth.
 
• We need you to support this bill so consistency in practice and 
   standard of care is present for any Michigan mother who hires a 
   midwife.