Homebirth Petition

Please sign our petition in favor of individual Midwife Waivers

Please sign our petition in favor of individual Midwife Waivers

I am in support of the efforts of Midwives across the state of New Jersey who have requested a waiver to the portion of the Midwifery Regulations that requires Midwives to have a written practice agreement with an OB/GYN:

Section 13:35-2A.6 – Consulting physicians; clinical guidelines (a) Prior to beginning practice as a midwife, a licensee shall enter into a consulting agreement with a physician.

I am a supporter of the Midwives at Hackettstown Midwives LLC (dba Midwives of NJ, LLC). I have been informed that there are no physicians in our area willing to sign a consulting agreement to cover home birth, so the Midwives of NJ (MNJ), will no longer be able to offer home birth after 13 successful years.

I urge you to consider the following ramifications of this change to the MNJ private Midwifery practice, the health and well-being of the families of New Jersey and the profession of Midwifery as a whole.

1. Expectant parents who were planning a safe, legal home birth must now find an alternative birth site or provider. For some this is just weeks before they are due.

2. This places a hardship on these Midwives who have already invested considerable time and finances preparing for a safe home birth for their clients.

3. With the only real options to go to a hospital or birth center, these expectant parents risk exposure to COVID-19 and restrictive policies on labor and delivery due to the current resurgence of the virus.

4. Birthing people are denied access to all available choices for evidence-based maternity care in New Jersey

5. Allowing the practice of Midwifery to be controlled by its direct competitor, OB/GYN’s in the industry is like inviting the fox to guard the henhouse. The doctors are clearly able to maintain their monopoly in maternity care by keeping the Midwives under their control.

6. Lack of access to homebirth providers/Midwives may increase the incidence of “free-birthing” (giving birth without a qualified provider in attendance) which should not be chosen because providers and/or resources are not available.

Please, carefully review this situation and grant emergency waivers for these Midwives who can bring homebirth back to New Jersey.

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