PushStory and Background
The birth of the Big Push for Midwives Campaign
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 for an advocacy summit on midwifery issues.
The Big Push campaign all began on the Birth Policy Yahoo Group, established in 2004 by Katie Prown, PhD, a birth activist who was one of the leaders of the successful efforts to achieve CPM licensure in Wisconsin in 2006, and a pivotal leader in the larger movement. The conversations on the Birth Policy Yahoo Group frequently turned to advocacy issues, as the group's participants include many activists—both consumers and midwives—who are committed to promoting the availability of direct-entry midwives.
In late September through early October 2007, group participants began to notice and post about an increasing number of prosecutions and investigations of midwives in several geographically contiguous states.
On October 9, a new thread began called "Dark Cloud Over the Midwest." Over the course of about 36 hours, in more than 30 posts, information and ideas were shared on a clearly growing trend of arrests and investigations of midwives in states that lacked a licensure mechanism for legal status, from Missouri to Pennsylvania, including prosecutions in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, and spreading west to Wyoming.
Information also was shared about the American Medical Association House of Delegates' Resolution 902 from November 2005, which calls on state medical boards to begin aggressively pursuing "midlevel providers," licensed or otherwise, whose actions constitute the practice of medicine. The AMA founded SOPP at that meeting, effectuating its plan and to lobby against laws that would license unlicensed health professionals or expand the scope of practice of already-licensed non-MD practitioners.
Birth Policy members further noticed that, while the prosecutions seemed to be spreading from one state to its close neighbors, the same "viral" phenomenon could be noted for interest in Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) and the Midwives Model of Care, with increasingly more stories in conventional news media outlets, as well as on blogs and within other social networking groups. The Big Push campaign and its focus on empowering midwives advocates across the nation are well timed.
Within a few days of the start of this online discussion, group members developed a desire for an in-person meeting, so that those in the states most affected by prosecutions could work together—sharing information and ideas on what works and what doesn't, lending expertise and experience, and developing advocacy strategy, testimony, handouts and other strategy tips. A small subset of the group organized and planned a meeting for a small group of midwives and activists from the hardest hit states to get together in Chicago within a few weeks to do intensive in-person planning and coordination.
As word spread, more and more participants signaled their intention to join us, including leaders of MANA, NARM, NACPM, CfM, and ICTC, as well as members of various state midwifery and friends of midwifery groups, many of whom had revised their plans at the last minute in order to attend.
PushSummit 2007, ably facilitated by Jane Peterson, CPM, LM, of Wisconsin, began with debate over issues familiar to all midwives—the pros and cons of mandatory licensure, the significance of the CPM credential, the particular needs of and considerations for rural families and racial or religious minorities. The meeting continued with planning sessions and further debate and ended the next morning with development of the NBPC organizing statement and the unofficial launch of the BPMC. The first two months of the Big Push, before the official launch, was a time of feverish activity:
- The original PushPacket was developed to include a description of the campaign, a graphic map representation of the member PushStates, a campaign statement against the AMA's SOPP, FAQ and midwives-benefits documents, an explanation of the services and resources available through the Big Push, and other items.
- Initial state and national media lists were prepared and state and national media relations launched.
- Strategies and tactics associated with the PushDay launch were conceived and implemented, with one primary news conference in Chicago and supporting "simulcast" events in other PushStates.
- An enterprise-level Web site was designed, published and launched, complete with an enabled donation function and robust back end that could grow as the campaign launched and grew.
- Also during this time, multiple PushStates were gearing up for their 2008 advocacy efforts, and the new Big Push Yahoo Group, the "PushList," saw a flurry of conversation and information-exchange as member states found new approaches and insights from each another and the campaign leadership team.
- In addition, an advisory committee—including Gera Simkins, Debbie Pulley, Ida Darragh, Pam Maurath, and several experienced state activists such as Mary Ueland of Missouri—was formed, as well as a four-person steering committee, consisting of Katie Prown of Wisconsin, National Campaign Manager, Steff Hedenkamp of Missouri, Communications Coordinator, Jane Peterson of Wisconsin, Advocacy Trainer and Facilitator, and Susan Jenkins of New Mexico and Washington, D.C., Campaign Legal Counsel.
Like other advocacy campaigns, the Big Push has no Board of Directors, and its members are self-selected—midwives and consumers from those states who are participating in some stage of midwifery care and Midwives Model of Care advocacy and public education.
On January 24, the steering committee and several members, friends, and allies returned to Chicago for the national launch, which was held at a hotel adjacent to the headquarters of the American Medical Association. A statement of support from Ricki Lake was read, as well as a statement condemning the AMA's Scope of Practice Partnership and opposition to midwifery licensure. Several speakers, including Jennifer Block, Ali Glenn, a consumer birth activist from Wisconsin, and Susan Hodges, addressed those assembled, including Deborah Shelton from the Chicago Tribune, which published a very positive article about the launch.
Participants also included representatives from the Illinois Coalition of Midwives and Illinois Families for Midwives. Joanna King, J.D., who serves as the state legislative specialist in American College of Nurse-Midwives' national office, attended the event as the "ambassador of good will" from ACNM. Valerie Runes, the Illinois midwife-turned-law student and co-author of From Calling to Courtroom, who is also featured on the Big Push Web site, was another honored guest among far too many to name.
It is no accident that the speakers on the PushDay Launch were all consumers and not necessarily midwives, since the Big Push is primarily a consumer-driven campaign.
The Big Push channels the strong desire of consumers to have access to Certified Professional Midwives and to have this access without fear—without fear of losing one's provider because she's been arrested, or because she has just received a cease-and-desist order, and without fear of being served with a subpoena to testify against her.
