Update on Utah Midwifery Legislation
By Danell Swim
March 14, 2008
Utah’s legislative session ended on March 5th at midnight. At a House Health and Human Services Committee meeting I attended the previous week, the seventh substitute version of SB 93 was introduced as a compromise bill between the Licensed Direct-Entry Midwives and the Utah Medical Association. It’s very frustrating that we (birthing women) would have to compromise at all, given that the current law is working and preserves our freedoms. The powerful medical lobby that is the Utah Medical Association forced us to do so.
So, what did we lose?
The two biggest losses are vaginal breech and twins. This would only be an issue if a woman is using a Licensed Direct-Entry Midwife. The bill mandates transfer, with no possibility of signing a waiver, if it’s determined that a woman is carrying a baby in a breech presentation or twins unless birth is “imminent”. In fact, it goes so far as to say that the midwife must terminate care and call 9-1-1, regardless of whether or not a woman wants this to happen. That’s what bothers me the most–women are being treated as if they are too stupid to make their own health care decisions.
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