Certified Professional Midwifery Practice and the Home Birth Freedom Act

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Brief history

The Home Birth Freedom Act seeks to accredit Certified Professional Midwifery (CPM) practices (Fischbein, 2013). The act aims at protecting the CPM practitioners from being prosecuted. In addition, the act advocates for no supervision of midwives by the physicians. Senator Tom Goolsby filed the bill on 19 February 2013. To date, the act is in its preliminary stages and is yet to become a law. If the act becomes a law, it will allow women in North Carolina freedom to choose the cost, manner, and setting of giving birth. Ultimately, the act will address the lack of enough midwifery services in North Carolina.

My position

Based on the current vital roles played by midwives in North Carolina, I believe that midwifery services should be enhanced instead of being abolished (Jouhki, 2012). It is with this reason that this paper focuses on the topic. In the paper, I support the policy because of its numerous benefits to the society. For instance, in places where health centers are far apart the services will come in handy. Equally, during emergency cases the services are important for child delivery (Robin, 2013). In addition, I support the act because it is the only solution to ending inadequate trained health personnel.

Proposal

Analysis

Midwifery services should be supported for their important contributions during child delivery. Given that midwifery requires appropriate hygiene and safety, stricter procedures should be put in place to ensure that the Senate formulates the appropriate law. The drafting of the bill should be holistic in nature. As such, it should consider the pros and cons of midwifery practices. I propose the establishment of minimum education levels for one to qualify for the training of CPMs. In addition, there should be a minimum of 4 years of experience before being licensed as a CPM practitioner.

Policy change

Therefore, a policy change should be implemented. With the current policy, the parties involved have different interests. As such, midwives are against being supervised by the physicians. On the other hand, the physicians are against the adoption of the act. Through a policy change, the two parties should be amicably harmonized. Thus, North Carolina house Bill should be structured to accommodate the practice of midwifery by CPMs.

I believe that the establishing of health boards to regulate the practices of midwives is the best way of handling the home birth freedom Act. Audrey Trepiccione who became a CPM in 1997 has illustrated a good example of best practice of midwifery (Robin, 2013). Trepiccione has 10 children. Out of the ten children, seven were born at home with the help of midwifery services. Based on this, it is apparent that midwifery services are workable.

The main advantage associated with my proposal is that it seeks to increase the safety of life during childbirth and increase the number of trained midwives. Despite its advantages, it should be noted that the proposal has its merits. As such, it will require midwives to undertake long trainings and acquire adequate experiences.

Strategy

Since the practice of midwifery in North Carolina is illegal according to the Nurse-Midwifery Practice Acts, women have no freedom of choosing the midwifery services. The strategy for dealing with the problem is to adopt appropriate measures to address homebirth cases. The community workforce and workplace should be informed on ways of identifying the licensed and qualified midwives. The government should regulate and license CPMs to ensure public safety and the supply of adequate trained midwives. Equally, professional associations and interest groups should harmonize the interest for the benefit of the public.

Summary

If the act becomes a law, it will allow women in North Carolina freedom to choose the cost, manner, and setting of giving birth. Midwifery services should be supported for their important contributions during child delivery. In this respect, the relevant authorities should adopt appropriate measures to address homebirth cases.

References

Fischbein, S. J. (2013). Redefining ethics in home birth. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 209(3), 2-9.

Jouhki, M. (2012). Choosing homebirth-The womens perspective. Women and Birth , 25(4), 56-61.

Robin, T. (2013). Home birth. Vocation Sage-femme, 12(102), 45-47.

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