Home VBAC in Colorado

There will be a Rulemaking Hearing at the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) in Denver on December 15, 2006 at 9:00am at  Suite 1380A/B, 1560 Broadway Denver, Colorado.

The purpose of the Rulemaking hearing from the standpoint of the Director of DORA will be to define the guidelines of Registered Midwives attending to vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) clients at home.

There are a number of groups, the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners, the Colorado Medical Society, and the Board of Nurses who would rather see the practice of VBACs at home abolished entirely.  These professional groups will be represented at the hearing and we assume they plan to be very aggressive in convincing the Director VBACs at home are unsafe and therefore Registered Midwives should not be allowed to attend them.  The midwives will be presenting appropriate rebuttals to their arguments in support of continuing our record of safe practice for VBACs at home.

If you had a VBAC at home, or know someone who did, please consider writing a letter in support of this very important option.  Consider writing the letter on behalf of yourself, your midwife, your friends and any number of women who are affected by the 30.2% cesarean rate.

The complete notice is here including the proposed rules which the Colorado Midwives Association is in agreement with minor wording changes:  http://www.dora.state.co.us/midwives/rulemaking.htm

Letters should be addressed to:

Midwifery Registration
1560 Broadway, Suite 1340
Denver, CO  80202

Indicate “written testimony only” if you wish the letter to be submitted for the Director’s consideration.

If you wish to speak for three minutes on your own behalf you must apply to do so ONE WEEK prior to the hearing by calling Vana Montgomery at 303-894-7429 or email her at Vana.Montgomery @ dora.state.co.us (remove the spaces) to make sure you have your time at the microphone.

December 2, 2006 | Filed Under Cesarean Birth, Home Birth, In the News, Midwives/Midwifery, Politics, VBAC | 4 Comments