In Time’s American Women: Birthing Babies at Home, Catherine Elton discusses the “battle over birth” between midwives and obstetricians. As she reviews the recent skirmish related to a controversial meta-analysis by Dr. Joseph Wax published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that throws the safety of home birth into question, she highlights the primary factor where …

Not in the opinion of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As a follow up to last year’s passage of legislation that would require evidence-based informed consent for all women seeking home birth Evidence Based-It’s Now the Law, the Virginia Regulatory Townhall posted the first of two public comment opportunities. Please read the following open letter to …

On March 30 Governer Kaine signed HB 2163, giving final approval to a bill that will set an historic precedent for setting standards for informed choice in maternity care.  Effective July 1, 2009, regulations for Certified Professional Midwives will require that midwives disclose to their clients “evidenced based information” about the risks associated with vbac, breech, …

It was enough of a pleasant surprise when Consumer Reports analyzed maternity care in the US and gave the midwives model top ranking,”Maternity Care: High-tech vs high-touch“.  But when the stodgy and mainsteam biased Time Magazine comes out with a story this week in the Health and Science section titled “The Trouble with Repeat Cesareans“, you …

Since your bill would essentially mandate surgery for the underprivileged women in your community, I highly encourage you to become educated about the risks of cesarean section, especially when a woman has more than one.  The maternal death rate is rising in our country.  The CDC has acknowledged that the death rates are actually under …

An article published this month is the journal of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends labor prior to a primary cesarean as a preventive measure against uterine rupture in future pregnancies. A powerful argument against medical induction, the researchers tracked over 10,000 women from their primary c-section to the end of their second …

I sat down this evening with a cup of tea to read all about the new publication Evidence-Based Maternity Care by Childbirth Connections, The Reforming States Group, and The Milbank Memorial Fund.