Help improve Illinois

maternity care options!

Vote “YES” on HB 226,

the Home Birth Safety Act
Consensus reached with nurses on the Home Birth Safety Act
which licenses certified professional midwives for home birth.

December 2008 statement from the Illinois Nurses Association:

"The INA has changed its position from oppose to neutral because they feel the
current proposal adequately protects the public, includes sound education and
certification requirements, and does allow women to choose to have a licensed
certified midwife to provide prenatal and childbirth services in their homes."

The following provisions in the Home Birth Safety Act create some of the highest standards for
professional home birth midwifery in the United States.

1. Strong Educational Requirements

Requires that licensed midwives be nationally certified, have completed three to five years of
education and training, earning, at minimum, the equivalent of an associates degree in midwifery
or nursing, or the equivalent of a general associates degree with specific outlined coursework
agreed to by the INA and ISAPN.

2. Extensive Informed Consent Clause

The most detailed informed consent requirement in Illinois health care licensure statutes.
Requires licensed midwife to inform patients that they must have a physical exam with a doctor
or advanced practice nurse during pregnancy and maintaining a patient-specific emergency plan.

3. Detailed Scope of Practice and Rules

Defined in statute. Limited to normal healthy birth. Strictly defines the conditions under which a
midwife can attend a home birth. Includes detailed description of risks requiring referral to an
advanced practice nurse, physician, or hospital during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum.

4. Strictly Limited Medications

Very limited medications necessary for safe home birth practice. Exact guidelines for indications,
dose, route of administration and duration detailed in the statute. Written in collaboration with the
Illinois Society of Advanced Practice Nursing. Meets national standards for midwifery practice.

5. Formalized Collaboration and Referral

Requirement to secure a collaborative relationship. Mandates quarterly case review with
collaborative physician or advanced practice nurse. Outlines conditions that require referral.
Supporters of the Home Birth Safety Act
Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nursing Illinois National Organization for Women
Illinois Public Health Association Concerned Christian Americans
Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition N’Eastern Illinois Doula Association
Health and Medicine Policy Research Group Doctors for Midwives of Illinois
Health and Disability Advocates Birthlink
Coalition for the Improvement of Maternity Services Our Bodies Ourselves

For more information contact Colette Bernhard, 773-504-8842, birthnews@earthlink.net