Natural Birth First

"There is a.. surprising maternity care provider shortage nationwide...Midwives, who currently attend less than 10% of births in the United States, could fill the maternity care provider shortage for low risk, healthy pregnancies. Unfortunately, midwives remain inaccessible to many, because private insurance plans are not required to cover midwifery care and often do not list midwives among their provider lists. In fact, many hospitals do not have midwives attending births." According to KFF.org (link in article) 120 additional providers are needed in WA and 140 in OR. Guess how many licensed midwives there are? So frustrating! Moms and babies are literally dying from lack of access to care. What can you do? Insist that your insurer add midwives! And use a midwife yourself, It frees the doctors to care for the higher risk families that need them. Consumers have the power to change this!

Maternal mortality is the shame of US health care Every day, more than 800 women around the world die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth -- and many of those deaths could be prevented if society dedicated itself to lowering maternal mortality rates, writes Every Mother Counts CEO Christy Turlington Burns.

I've been saying this for a LONG time. Glad to see it's making the rounds.

How Using Our Power as Consumers Could Change Maternity Care Forever - Mothering Simply re-thinking your role as a birthing woman can change maternity care. Re-thinking maternity care- from patient to consumer.