On April 5, 2016, a last-minute amendment was added to House Bill 1360 that would ban midwives from attending at home ANY woman who has had a cesarean section. This bill is what will continue to regulate midwifery in Colorado for the next 7 years.  

I have personally had two homebirth VBACS and I am a Registered Midwife providing homebirth services to Colorado women.  I am dismayed at this turn of events. This amendment robs women of their right to choose where and with whom to give birth. Colorado Midwifery Regulations already have excellent rules in place that provide women with the option of having a safe VBAC with a skilled attendant in their home. Please join me in letting the representatives who voted for this amendment know that:

• They are restricting the freedoms and basic human rights of women to choose where and with whom they give birth.
• They will lead some women to feel that they are forced to give birth on their own with no skilled attendant.
• They are ignoring the good regulations that are already in place that help to keep homebirth VBACs safe in Colorado.
• They are making fear-based instead of evidence-based decisions.

We urge these members of the House Health, Insurance and Environment committee to use all available resources to make sure this amendment does not make it to the Colorado State Senate and into the final version of the law that will keep midwifery regulated in Colorado.  

We further urge members of the Senate Health Committee to get rid of this amendment and keep VBAC at home legal for midwives to attend.