Advertisement
Midwifery advocates in AL recently became aware of a fetal protection bill that would pose a threat to doulas and midwives. It will be difficult to stop this bill from passing, however, we have drafted an amendment to protect birth assistants and recruited a state rep. to sponsor it. Please forward the following alert to any Alabamians who might be willing to urge their legislators to support this amendment. Here's the scoop:
Through our work on behalf of midwifery legislation, Lisa Clark and I have become aware of HB19, submitted by Rep. Spencer Collier (R-Mobile). His background and contact information can be found at this website:
www.legislature.state.al.us/hous....html
HB19 is a fetal protection bill that was originally conceived by the investigator who "dug up the dirt" on Alabama's most recently convicted direct-entry midwife. He envisioned a law that would be used to prosecute mothers who throw themselves off chairs, causing their own miscarriages, and midwives who "kill" babies, two scenarios he claimed to have investigated and which he equated as equally criminal. We are concerned that this bill could also be used against doulas who might be attending a mother who has a precipitious birth either at home or on the way to her planned birth location/attendant.
Our midwifery bill sponsor (Laura Hall) had agreed to submit an amendment to the fetal protection bill before it passed out of the Judicial Committee if we prepared the wording. Unfortunately, she was not in session this week due to a family emergency and we just found out that the bill has already passed out of committee and is scheduled for a vote on the House floor tomorrow ... Thursday, January 19.
Below is a message that you may post to any/all doula or birth groups in AL. We need both Doulas and their clients to contact Rep. Collier today in hopes of having an amendment added to this bill before it progresses any further. Please feel free to call either myself (home - 256.859.1352 or cell - 256.603.2666) or Lisa Clark (home - 256.829.9453) if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Chloe Raum
Alabama Birth Coalition
health.groups.yahoo.com/group/...lition/
-------------------------------
URGENT! SUPPORT AMENDMENT TO HB19
ON CALENDAR FOR TOMORROW, THURSDAY, JANUARY 19TH
Full text: www.legislature.state.al.us/Sear...9.htm
ยง13A-6-1.
"The (a) As used in Article 1 and Article 2, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them by this section:
"(3)(1) CRIMINAL HOMICIDE. Murder, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide.
"(1)(2) HOMICIDE. A person commits criminal homicide if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence causes the death of another person.
"(2)(3) PERSON. Such The term, when referring to the victim of a criminal homicide or assault, means a human being who had been born and was alive at the time of the homicidal act, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation in utero from conception to birth, regardless of viability.
"(b) Article 1 or Article 2 shall not apply to the death or injury to an unborn child alleged to be caused by medication and reasonably necessary medical care or treatment provided to a pregnant woman when performed by a physician or other licensed health care provider which conforms to generally accepted standards of medical care. Medical care or treatment includes, but is not limited to, dispensation or administration of prescribed medications and medical procedures.
"(c) A victim of domestic violence or sexual assault may not be charged under Article 1 or Article 2 for the injury or death of an unborn child caused by a crime of domestic violence or rape perpretrated upon her."
Section 2. Nothing in this act shall make it a crime to perform or obtain an abortion that is otherwise legal. Nothing in this act shall be construed to make an abortion legal which is not otherwise authorized by law.
Section 3. Although this bill would have as its purpose or effect the requirement of a new or increased expenditure of local funds, the bill is excluded from further requirements and application under Amendment 621 because the bill defines a new crime or amends the definition of an existing crime.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
This amendment [to be inserted after Section 2, renumbering subsequent sections] is intended to protect midwives, doulas and others who could be caught by this bill if it becomes law:
Section 3. Nothing in this act shall make it a crime for a person who acts in good faith to assist a woman with the delivery of her infant subsequent to the onset of labor.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
Call and email Representative Collier and your own representative TODAY! Urge them to protect doulas and other professional birth attendants by adding the proposed amendment submitted by Lisa Clark. Please DO NOT mention midwives specifically. Please be extremely polite. Important points to mention:
1. Doulas are not licensed by the state of Alabama, and
2. They do not practice medicine or health care, so
3. There is nothing in the law that could protect them from a zealous prosecutor in the event of a tragic, but unexpected baby death.
Representative Spencer Collier
R, 105th District, Mobile
(334) 242-7719
altrooper@yahoo.com
Through our work on behalf of midwifery legislation, Lisa Clark and I have become aware of HB19, submitted by Rep. Spencer Collier (R-Mobile). His background and contact information can be found at this website:
www.legislature.state.al.us/hous....html
HB19 is a fetal protection bill that was originally conceived by the investigator who "dug up the dirt" on Alabama's most recently convicted direct-entry midwife. He envisioned a law that would be used to prosecute mothers who throw themselves off chairs, causing their own miscarriages, and midwives who "kill" babies, two scenarios he claimed to have investigated and which he equated as equally criminal. We are concerned that this bill could also be used against doulas who might be attending a mother who has a precipitious birth either at home or on the way to her planned birth location/attendant.
Our midwifery bill sponsor (Laura Hall) had agreed to submit an amendment to the fetal protection bill before it passed out of the Judicial Committee if we prepared the wording. Unfortunately, she was not in session this week due to a family emergency and we just found out that the bill has already passed out of committee and is scheduled for a vote on the House floor tomorrow ... Thursday, January 19.
Below is a message that you may post to any/all doula or birth groups in AL. We need both Doulas and their clients to contact Rep. Collier today in hopes of having an amendment added to this bill before it progresses any further. Please feel free to call either myself (home - 256.859.1352 or cell - 256.603.2666) or Lisa Clark (home - 256.829.9453) if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Chloe Raum
Alabama Birth Coalition
health.groups.yahoo.com/group/...lition/
-------------------------------
URGENT! SUPPORT AMENDMENT TO HB19
ON CALENDAR FOR TOMORROW, THURSDAY, JANUARY 19TH
Full text: www.legislature.state.al.us/Sear...9.htm
ยง13A-6-1.
"The (a) As used in Article 1 and Article 2, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them by this section:
"(3)(1) CRIMINAL HOMICIDE. Murder, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide.
"(1)(2) HOMICIDE. A person commits criminal homicide if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence causes the death of another person.
"(2)(3) PERSON. Such The term, when referring to the victim of a criminal homicide or assault, means a human being who had been born and was alive at the time of the homicidal act, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation in utero from conception to birth, regardless of viability.
"(b) Article 1 or Article 2 shall not apply to the death or injury to an unborn child alleged to be caused by medication and reasonably necessary medical care or treatment provided to a pregnant woman when performed by a physician or other licensed health care provider which conforms to generally accepted standards of medical care. Medical care or treatment includes, but is not limited to, dispensation or administration of prescribed medications and medical procedures.
"(c) A victim of domestic violence or sexual assault may not be charged under Article 1 or Article 2 for the injury or death of an unborn child caused by a crime of domestic violence or rape perpretrated upon her."
Section 2. Nothing in this act shall make it a crime to perform or obtain an abortion that is otherwise legal. Nothing in this act shall be construed to make an abortion legal which is not otherwise authorized by law.
Section 3. Although this bill would have as its purpose or effect the requirement of a new or increased expenditure of local funds, the bill is excluded from further requirements and application under Amendment 621 because the bill defines a new crime or amends the definition of an existing crime.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
This amendment [to be inserted after Section 2, renumbering subsequent sections] is intended to protect midwives, doulas and others who could be caught by this bill if it becomes law:
Section 3. Nothing in this act shall make it a crime for a person who acts in good faith to assist a woman with the delivery of her infant subsequent to the onset of labor.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
Call and email Representative Collier and your own representative TODAY! Urge them to protect doulas and other professional birth attendants by adding the proposed amendment submitted by Lisa Clark. Please DO NOT mention midwives specifically. Please be extremely polite. Important points to mention:
1. Doulas are not licensed by the state of Alabama, and
2. They do not practice medicine or health care, so
3. There is nothing in the law that could protect them from a zealous prosecutor in the event of a tragic, but unexpected baby death.
Representative Spencer Collier
R, 105th District, Mobile
(334) 242-7719
altrooper@yahoo.com
posted by:
|
Australia
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
incredible success on very short notice!
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 6:27 AMTwo determined birth policy reform (consumer) activists pulled off quite a feat on very short notice. The following report came through this morning. I'm sorry that the underlines and emphasis won't come throuhgh in this post, so i'm inserting *s around the new language in a way to make it a little bit easier to decipher.
Steve
SHORT VERSION: An amendment that attempted to address the concerns we raised was passed yesterday, and the bill passed its third reading in the House. The bill sponsor had decided our amendment was unnecessary. He was the only one we sent the amendment to, but we apparently raised enough concern with our own legislators that an amendment was drafted and adopted during yesterday's vote. You can read the full text of the new bill here:
www.legislature.state.al.us/Sear...9.htm
LONG VERSION: The concern we raised was over the possibility of this bill being used to charge unlicensed maternity care providers. We used doulas as our example because unlicensed midwives were a specific target of this legislation. We have a licensing bill in this session, so we didn't want to bring that up with Representative Collier. We had other concerns with the wording, but this was the issue we focused on. Time was short, and we unexpectedly had to raise our concerns and submit an amendment without our midwifery bill sponsor's help.
The original language that concerned us was this (*emphasis added*):
(b) Article 1 or Article 2 shall not apply to the death or injury to an unborn child alleged to be caused by medication and reasonably necessary medical care or treatment provided to a pregnant woman *when performed by a physician or other licensed health care provider which conforms to generally accepted standards of medical care*. Medical care or treatment includes, but is not limited to, dispensation or administration of prescribed medications and medical procedures.
The amendment we proposed was this:
Section 3. Nothing in this act shall make it a crime for a person who acts in good faith to assist a woman with the delivery of her infant subsequent to the onset of labor.
Representative Collier listened politely when I spoke with him Wednesday morning. He promised to look at the amendment and get some counsel on whether it was necessary or not. We put the word out that people needed to contact Representative Collier and their own Representative requesting that it be amended. By Thursday morning it appeared Collier had dismissed our concerns and had no intention of amending the bill. In some communications with voters, he seemed quite frustrated with our efforts. But the bill passed with the following new wording in an amendment:
(b) Article 1 or Article 2 shall not apply to the death or injury to an unborn child alleged to be caused by medication and reasonably necessary medical care or treatment provided to a pregnant woman when performed by a physician or other licensed health care provider which conforms to generally accepted standards of medical care.
* Mistake, or unintentional error on the part of a licensed physician or other licensed health care provider or his or her employee or agent **or any person** acting on behalf of the patient shall not subject the licensed physician or other licensed health care provider **or person** acting on behalf of the patient to any criminal liability under this section for the death of an unborn child, regardless of viability. *
Medical care or treatment includes, but is not limited to, ordering, dispensation or administration of prescribed medications and medical procedures.
It's not perfect, but it's exciting to see that in less than a day we were able to generate enough public concern that our legislators heard us and did something to address those concerns. In that sense, this is a major victory for AL birth advocates. Our legislature has been notoriously unresponsive to voter concerns, particularly those of women voters. It was also a tremendous learning experience for us, teaching us more about AL's legislative process in very practical terms. Chloe and I are tremendously grateful that we have everyone on BirthPolicy that we can learn from, as well. Thanks very much for the input you gave us.
Lisa Clark
