New York City's midwives in jeopardy

With the closing today of St. Vincent's Hospital, New York City's home birth midwives have found their livelihoods cut from under them. Their pregnant clients, some only weeks or days away from giving birth, suddenly are without care providers. New York State law mandates that home birth midwives have signed practice agreements with either a physician or an institution. St. Vincent's Hospital provided this agreement to most, if not all, of New York City's licensed home birth providers. With the hospital's closing, more than half of the city's home birth providers have been unable to find a new institution or physician willing to sign the agreement and are thus unable to legally practice midwifery.

To learn more about the situation, read these articles and blog posts:

• St. Vincent's Hospital Shutdown Leaves Expectant Moms Without Home-Birth Option
• With the Closing of a Hospital, Women’s Childbirth Options Diminish
• St. Vincent's Hospital Closes its Doors After 160 Years
• Radical Doula: Access to Homebirth in NYC Put at Risk by Closing of St. Vincent's Hospital
• RH Reality Check: Solidarity Now! The Eleventh Hour for NYC Midwives
• Marvelous Kiddo: Help Save Home Birth Midwifery
• Choices in Childbirth blog has updates on the NYS situation and tells you how to get involved