Illinois restricts birth freedom, criminalizes professional midwifery care

The state of Illinois is unkind to health freedom, especially for birth choice. In fact, there are very limited choices for giving birth in Illinois. An expectant mother is literally forced to give birth the way the state has mandated. In Illinois, four intelligent birthing options have been pushed out of the state, criminalized to the point of near extinction. Instead of working with knowledgeable midwives to increase the quality of pregnancy care, the state of Illinois has demonized them. Perhaps the medical system feels threatened by a model of care that doesn’t treat birth like a disease and doesn’t push costly, unnecessary, and sometimes dangerous interventions and pharmaceuticals.

Four classes of midwives pushed out of Illinois

A Certified Midwife, with all certification from the American College of Nurse-Midwives, is not allowed to practice in Illinois. This has pushed the availability of birthing centers out of the state.

Certified Professional Midwives, with all certification from the North American Registry of Midwives, are not allowed to practice in the state either. This knowledgeable class of midwives has training and expertise for both the hospital setting and the out-of-hospital setting.

Direct-Entry Midwives, including Licensed Midwives and Registered Midwives, are also not allowed to practice in the state. This class of midwifery, servicing primarily out-of-hospital settings, is educated in the discipline of midwifery through apprenticeship, a midwifery school or a college. Their training follows a more holistic approach, distinct from a nurse’s training.

Traditional Midwives are those who are self-learned, who do not submit to legislation. They service traditional communities and believe women have a right to choose qualified care providers regardless of fabricated laws. Of course, this class of midwifery is illegal in Illinois, too.

With all these options criminalized, women are left with a couple of limited choices in Illinois.

The only “legal” midwifery practice in Illinois is a Certified Nurse-Midwife, who is only authorized to practice under a state-licensed physician. They may provide the expectant mother with support but are still bound to following the doctor’s orders. They are not allowed to attend a home birth.

Low-risk births don’t need the expensive, cumbersome medical system and all the routine excess it pushes

Some women view birth as an empowering journey and experience. They do their homework. They are mindful with every step of the pregnancy process, from conception to delivery to post-birth care. These women are well-learned, understanding the importance of supplementing with whole foods vitamins throughout the pregnancy. B vitamins, folate, calcium, magnesium and iron are of great significance. Eating extra protein and supplementing with vitamin D is important too. Eating nutrient-dense foods is a priority, because these women understand that a developing life needs the necessary components that make life thrive in the womb. Every step of the way, these women avoid toxins, from pesticides to caramel coloring to fine particulate matter (which can all elicit birth defects and pregnancy complications).

These women are aware of what is going into their body and how it is ultimately channeled to their precious new one. In this clean consciousness, an expectant mother can be confident in her pregnancy, not worrying about the things that could go wrong. They know they are doing everything they can to make the pregnancy as safe as possible. In a low-risk birth situation like this, a woman may want to choose a birthing route that has less medical intervention and less medical system reliance. She may want to choose a midwife to attend her birth, either at home or at a birthing center.

Many birth options criminalized, forced to go underground

The most sickening reality of all is that neither of these options are legal in Illinois. This means midwifery continues underground, all the while providing less-complicated, less-expensive and greater-quality care for low risk births.

Sadly, Illinois law has made the many natural birth routes inaccessible. There is a limited number of professional midwives available, and many are leery and don’t want to take the risk of getting caught. This forces low-risk births to be carried out at hospitals unnecessarily and against the will of mothers and/or fathers. If the family decides to continue with a home birth, they are either put in a situation to go it on their own or convince an underground midwife to carry out the birth in their home or alternative hideout.

When did birth become a bad thing, or an underground operation? When did birth become a disease, requiring hospital attention?

It all has to do with the medical system controlling the revenues. The medical system is all about controlling state laws to run any competition out of the state. Just think: Up until the 1930s, midwives safely and effectively attended the vast majority of births in the United States. When the crony, competitive, for-profit medical system came into the picture, birth was funneled to hospitals as state-licensed physicians took over the market. To get rid of their competition, the medical system and its acolytes outlawed midwifery.

From experience, midwifery care provides all the necessary support and potential emergency equipment if things were to go wrong during a birth. Midwives don’t push costly procedures and drugs, which is bonus. The cost in the underground market averages at $2,500 for a home birth.

In a hospital, it’s a lot more complicated, with the cost of birth and all the excess reaching $20,000 or more.

To reduce the cost of birth and increase the quality of one-on-one care, Illinois, along with many other states, needs to allow for more freedom of choice for freedom of life. Better nutrition education could also help mothers have a lower-risk birth.

Let’s empower women and not demonize professional midwifery care!

Help us contact Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, to bring light to this issue in the state of Illinois.

Does your state or province respect birth choice?

Sources:

http://mana.org

http://www.illinoismidwifery.org

http://science.naturalnews.com

http://truthwiki.org/Medical_Fascism