The Issues
Virginia Midwives for Safe Community Births is a group of Virginia Licensed Midwives, freestanding Birth Centers, and consumers interested in improving community birth by updating Virginia's outdated midwifery law prohibiting Licensed Midwives from being able to possess and administer medications that make community birth safe.
​
We have Senate Bill 1275 and House Bill 1511 filed for the 2023 legislative session. We need your support! Contact your legislators and ask them to vote YES on these bills. Don't know who your legislator is? Find your legislator here.
It is time to change this outdated law and improve community births for Virginia families.
Maternity Care Deserts
Maternity care deserts are areas where there is limited or no access to maternity health care services. According to a 2020 report published by the March of Dimes, 47% of Virginia counties are Maternity Care Deserts (March of Dimes, 2020).
Safety & Ethics
Maternal mortality in the United States is higher than all other highly industrialized countries. More than 700 people die each year in the United States from childbirth-related causes, and it is estimated that approximately 60% of those deaths are preventable (Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA), 2018). Access to life-saving medications is a human right, and is essential to safe practice in all birth settings.
Scope of Practice
Licensed Midwives in Virginia are restricted from administering medications that are within their scope of practice. These include Pitocin®, Cytotec®, RhoGAM®, IV fluids, lidocaine, epinephrine, Methergine®, Oxygen, antibiotics, vitamin K (injectable - for infant), erythromycin ophthalmic ointment (also for infant). Virginia is one of only two states that license midwives, yet restrict them from accessing these medications. Providers should be able to work within their full scope of practice.
Workarounds
Families have to jump through numerous hoops to gain access to the medications that make their birth safer. Some have to drive over two hours to see a physician who would be willing to prescribe medications. Some have to go to the hospital within 2 hours of their baby’s birth so that their baby can receive a potentially life-saving vitamin K injection or erythromycin eye ointment that can prevent permanent blindness due to maternal infection. Some people have to choose between having to endure the pain of being sutured without the use of local anesthetic or risking permanent damage to their body by not having those lacerations repaired properly. Some must self-administer prescribed medications, while their Licensed Midwife stands by, unable to assist them due to an outdated law.