National Birth Policy Coalition
The Big Push for Midwives Campaign was officially launched in Chicago on January 24, 2008, now forever known as "PushDay." Just months earlier in November 2007, the campaign was initiated by the National Birth Policy Coalition (NBPC), both of which were formed when 70 birth activists, consumers, and midwives from 22 states and Canada met in Chicago at PushSummit 2007, an advocacy summit on midwifery issues.
The National Birth Policy Coalition has found broad endorsement and at present is made up of nearly 50 state and national consumer and midwifery groups and associations who have united around the following organizing statement:
"Increasing access to the Midwives Model of Care in all settings is essential to the health and well-being of childbearing women and their babies. The National Birth Policy Coalition supports legislative initiatives that promote the autonomous practice of Certified Professional Midwives and Certified Nurse-Midwives, and that ensure the availability of safe, evidence-based care during pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum."
