Rally your friends and families for birth centers
According to new U.N. data, maternal mortality in the U.S. has worsened, falling from 41st to 50th in the world. In other words, women in the U.S. face a greater risk of maternal death than women in 49 other counties. We spend more than twice as much as other developed countries at a cost of $98 billion in hospital care. For the 13th consecutive year U.S. c-section rates have risen - 32.9% in 2009 and still rising. We need not tell you about the growing number of premature, low birth weight babies.
Birth Centers are changing America.
We are changing this picture one baby step at a time. Birth Centers need financial assistance to maintain their stability in our system and we need to grow in number if we are going to make a significant difference for pregnant women and their families.
It continues to amaze us that in the 21st Century our federal government can spend money on international space stations, billions of dollars to bail out banks and other businesses, but do little or nothing to change the way we deliver maternity care.
The first step to get our proposed legislation passed is consumer action. The proposed legislation provides grants to birth centers for programs and services as well as grants for construction and development.
The strength of our democracy and the strength of Birth Centers depend on you getting involved and engaging your consumers.
Action Steps
Tell your friends and families to sign-on to Letter to Congress.
- Share on Facebook
- Put a link on your website:
- http://www.birthcenters.org/legislation/legislative-alerts
- Tweet about it
- Download the letter and collect signatures
For more information or questions please contact Karen S. Fennell, MS, RN, Consultant, Lobbyist for the American Association of Birth Centers at fennell.karen.s@gmail.com or 301-830-3910.