1,000 signatures reached
To: Gov. Kathy Hochul
Support Birth Centers and Midwives in New York State!
Create access to midwife-led birth centers and improve health outcomes by passing the midwifery birth center bill (A.259a/S.1414a). This legislation that has already passed unanimously through the New York State legislature and is sitting on your desk ... but must be signed into law by Dec. 31. This is one step to improving the birth experience and addressing the maternal mortality and morbidity crisis.
Why is this important?
Midwifery birth centers provide high-value, evidence-based, patient-centered care that has been proven to result in positive health outcomes, cost savings, and health equity. Midwifery birth centers are essential to advancing birth equity in New York State.
However, the current DOH process for midwifery birth centers is the main barrier to opening and operating birth centers. In fact, no midwifery birth centers have been able to be licensed in New York State, leaving families without the care options they deserve.
The New York State Senate and Assembly have taken steps to address this issue with a critical bill that provides a solution. Adopting the guidelines from a nationally recognized accrediting organization, like the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers, will protect and serve childbearing families in New York. National birth center accreditation is evidence-based, efficient, transparent, affordable, tailored to birth centers, and is the gold standard of any state's birth center licensure process. This bill will make sure this gold standard is applied in New York State, as well.
It is past time for this cost-effective, safe option to be available to the women, birthing people, and families in New York State. The state legislature has already passed this bill—now Gov. Hochul simply needs to call for the bill and sign it before December 31.