Arkansas Moms Sue Health Department
Donation protected
This fund raiser is to help pay for legal fees and associated expenses for 5 Moms who are suing the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH). The ADH regulates the licensed midwives, they have forbidden midwives from accepting clients who wish to birth out of hospital if they have had a prior cesarean. This leaves families who desire a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean at home, to birth unassisted. The ADH is deciding for these families which medical professionals they can hire and barring them from the services they wish to use.
The ADH also requires the midwife client to have two mandatory risk assessments. The client who has already hired a midwife for prenatal care must obtain these risk assessments which are almost exclusively done at the health department, to make sure the client is “safe” enough to birth at home. The assessments include pelvic exams and STD testing. If a client refuses to complete the risk assessments then her midwife will have to release her from care to avoid disciplinary action. This is COMPELLED medical treatment for these families and this must stop!
This lawsuit will be to the benefit of current and future home birth families who wish to exercise full autonomy over their medical health.
The funds raised from this will help to pay for continued legal expenses (filing fee, attorney fees, traveling to hearings, childcare for Moms to attend hearings) to help prevent the 5 woman named in the complaint from having to pay directly.
We will be filing soon and your support would mean so much to the 5 local Moms, the home birth community, and to those who believe a competent adult should always have the final decision about their course of care.
The ADH also requires the midwife client to have two mandatory risk assessments. The client who has already hired a midwife for prenatal care must obtain these risk assessments which are almost exclusively done at the health department, to make sure the client is “safe” enough to birth at home. The assessments include pelvic exams and STD testing. If a client refuses to complete the risk assessments then her midwife will have to release her from care to avoid disciplinary action. This is COMPELLED medical treatment for these families and this must stop!
This lawsuit will be to the benefit of current and future home birth families who wish to exercise full autonomy over their medical health.
The funds raised from this will help to pay for continued legal expenses (filing fee, attorney fees, traveling to hearings, childcare for Moms to attend hearings) to help prevent the 5 woman named in the complaint from having to pay directly.
We will be filing soon and your support would mean so much to the 5 local Moms, the home birth community, and to those who believe a competent adult should always have the final decision about their course of care.
Organizer
Chelsea Cameron
Organizer
Bryant, AR
