Full Text of SJR0012 101st General Assembly
SJ0012 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Constitution of the State of Illinois provides | 3 | | for "the health, safety and welfare of the people" and the | 4 | | "opportunity for the fullest development of the individual"; | 5 | | and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, It has been demonstrated that due to deeply held | 7 | | religious, philosophical, or personal reasons, some families | 8 | | will always choose to give birth to their children at home; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, There were 61,041 out-of-hospital births in the | 10 | | United States in 2015 with a 52% increase in out-of-hospital | 11 | | births and a 45% increase in home births since 2007; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, 65% of U.S. home births in 2015 were attended by | 13 | | non-nurse midwives; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, In Illinois, home births increased by 50% between | 15 | | 2007 and 2014; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, All well-designed studies show that for low-risk | 17 | | women, planned home birth, attended by a trained maternity care | 18 | | provider, is as safe as hospital birth; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Over 50 trained Illinois home birth providers, |
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| 1 | | including the last remaining Illinois home birth physician, | 2 | | have ceased providing home birth services since 1996; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, There now remain fewer than 10 legally recognized | 4 | | home birth practices (nurse-midwives) in Illinois, and these | 5 | | are located in only six of 102 Illinois counties (Lake, Cook, | 6 | | DuPage, Will, Peoria, and McLean); and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Due to the scarcity of legal home birth providers, | 8 | | approximately 50% of the babies born at home in Illinois are | 9 | | born either with no skilled assistance at all (unassisted home | 10 | | birth), or they are born into the hands of underground | 11 | | community midwives; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Some of these underground midwives are nationally | 13 | | certified and credentialed, while others are not; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Underground community midwives have no legal | 15 | | access to life saving oxygen and anti-hemorrhage medications; | 16 | | and | 17 | | WHEREAS, Underground community midwives have no means of | 18 | | legally completing newborn congenital heart disease | 19 | | screenings, hearing screenings and metabolic screening tests, | 20 | | and no means of legally filing accurate birth certificate | 21 | | information; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, An underground system of care may cause parents | 2 | | and midwives to delay seeking hospital care in the event of an | 3 | | emergency; parents are afraid of Child Protective Services | 4 | | involvement; midwives are afraid of arrest; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Underground healthcare is never safe; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, The above-mentioned increase in Illinois home | 7 | | births, the shortage of licensed home birth providers, and the | 8 | | dangers associated with families resorting to underground | 9 | | healthcare, in effect, add up to a "Home Birth Maternity Care | 10 | | Crisis" in Illinois; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Illinois is surrounded on three sides by states | 12 | | (Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri) that set educational standards | 13 | | for their community midwives, license and regulate them, allow | 14 | | them to have access to life-saving oxygen and medications, | 15 | | allow them to perform life-saving newborn screenings, and allow | 16 | | them to openly transport to a hospital in an emergency; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, 33 of the 50 United States also protect their | 18 | | citizens in this way through licensure and regulation of | 19 | | community midwives; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Licensure in these states is based upon the |
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| 1 | | requirement that the community midwife earn a Certified | 2 | | Professional Midwife (CPM) credential - the only healthcare | 3 | | credential requiring documented out-of-hospital training and | 4 | | experience; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, States that license Certified Professional | 6 | | Midwives tend to have lower perinatal mortality rates; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, More and more states are taking advantage of the | 8 | | cost-savings associated with home birth midwifery care to | 9 | | reduce state Medicaid expenditures; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois used to license community | 11 | | midwives under the Medical Practice Act from 1877 to 1963 and | 12 | | ceased renewing licenses in 1972; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, Home birth mothers and families have been seeking | 14 | | a legislative solution to the Home Birth Maternity Care Crisis | 15 | | for nearly 40 years (since 1979); and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, All Illinois mothers and their newborns deserve | 17 | | access to safe maternity care regardless of place of birth; | 18 | | therefore, be it
| 19 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL | 20 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 1 | | CONCURRING HEREIN, that we find it unacceptable that home birth | 2 | | mothers and babies in Illinois are without adequate maternity | 3 | | care providers; and be it further | 4 | | RESOLVED, That it is in the State's best interest to assure | 5 | | its citizens access to all safe maternity care options; and be | 6 | | it further | 7 | | RESOLVED, That Illinois families, in order to best meet | 8 | | personal needs and desires, are entitled freedom to choose | 9 | | among all safe, nationally-recognized maternity care options, | 10 | | including home birth; and be it further | 11 | | RESOLVED, That the Home Birth Maternity Care Crisis Study | 12 | | Committee is hereby created; and be it further | 13 | | RESOLVED, That the Home Birth Maternity Care Crisis Study | 14 | | Committee be bipartisan; and be it further | 15 | | RESOLVED, That the Home Birth Maternity Care Crisis Study | 16 | | Committee include 15 members as follows: | 17 | | (1) One appointed by the Secretary of the Department of | 18 | | Financial and Professional Regulation; | 19 | | (2) One appointed by the President of the Senate; | 20 | | (3) One appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate; | 21 | | (4) One appointed by the Speaker of the House of |
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| 1 | | Representatives; | 2 | | (5) One appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate; | 3 | | (6) A representative of a statewide association | 4 | | representing professional midwives, appointed by the | 5 | | President of the Senate; | 6 | | (7) A representative of a national association | 7 | | representing professional midwives, appointed by the | 8 | | President of the Senate; | 9 | | (8) A representative of a statewide association | 10 | | representing advanced practice nursing, appointed by the | 11 | | President of the Senate; | 12 | | (9) A representative of a statewide association | 13 | | representing nurse-midwives, appointed by the Minority | 14 | | Leader of the Senate; | 15 | | (10) A representative of a statewide association | 16 | | representing hospitals, appointed by the Minority Leader | 17 | | of the Senate; | 18 | | (11) A representative of a statewide association | 19 | | representing lawyers, appointed by the Speaker of the House | 20 | | of Representatives; | 21 | | (12) A representative of a statewide association | 22 | | representing pediatrics, appointed by the Speaker of the | 23 | | House of Representatives; | 24 | | (13) A representative of a statewide association | 25 | | representing obstetricians and gynecologists, appointed by | 26 | | the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; |
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| 1 | | (14) A representative of a statewide association | 2 | | representing doctors, appointed by the Minority Leader of | 3 | | the House of Representatives; and | 4 | | (15) A representative of a statewide association | 5 | | representing a consumer organization, appointed by the | 6 | | Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; and be it | 7 | | further | 8 | | RESOLVED That the Home Birth Maternity Care Crisis Study | 9 | | Committee shall meet monthly until such time that it is | 10 | | prepared to make a recommendation to the General Assembly, but | 11 | | that time shall be no later than October 8, 2019; and be it | 12 | | further | 13 | | RESOLVED, That the Office of the Secretary of the | 14 | | Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall | 15 | | provide the Task Force with administrative and other support; | 16 | | and be it further | 17 | | RESOLVED, That the Home Birth Maternity Care Crisis Study | 18 | | Committee will hear testimony from all interested parties; and | 19 | | be it further | 20 | | RESOLVED, That the Home Birth Maternity Care Crisis Study | 21 | | Committee will thoroughly consider the role that Certified | 22 | | Professional Midwives may have in helping to resolve the Home |
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| 1 | | Birth Maternity Care Crisis; and be it further
| 2 | | RESOLVED, That the Home Birth Maternity Care Crisis Study | 3 | | Committee will recommend to the General Assembly a | 4 | | consumer-focused, evidence-based solution to the Illinois Home | 5 | | Birth Maternity Care Crisis that protects families from the | 6 | | dangers of having inadequate numbers of licensed home birth | 7 | | providers to care for them during the prenatal, intrapartum, | 8 | | and postpartum portions of their pregnancies, especially in the | 9 | | underserved communities of Illinois.
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