URGENT: Prenatal/Birth Care for Migrants at Border

As of January 1, 2020, the public health insurance program for migrants in Mexico was eliminated. The replacement insurance program is currently not accessible to most migrant or undocumented persons living in Tijuana. Due to this new situation, pregnant migrants, even those who are high-risk, are being turned away from hospitals because they cannot pay the bill. As a result, our free maternal/infant health clinic, Clinica de Justicia en Salud (Clinic for Justice in Health), has turned into a de facto birth center.

The migrant community in Tijuana has been relying on our free maternal/infant clinic for services during pregnancy and postpartum, but now we are being asked by these families to catch their babies here and to help ensure that they get the appropriate birth certification. It is a tidal wave of babies, and we must help them, as their only other option is to birth alone.

Until recently pregnant migrants had access to public health insurance in Tijuana, so they could birth and generally access hospital care free of charge. And for most, the only way to obtain birth certificates for their children is to birth in a hospital, where obstetric violence is the norm. Obtaining these documents drove their healthcare choices and many were willing to bear the additional violence in order to keep their children from being invisible.  

Midwife Ximena Rojas, with the help of other local volunteer midwives and her apprentices, Alix Medina and Sarah Tunney, in collaboration with Refugee Health Alliance, are serving these families, but now we are in urgent need of help.

We are catching all the babies and serving the families with dignity and providing humanized births, but we need your help. Funds, donations everything. 

We are in desperate need of funds to support this initiative, which can then be used for birthing supplies, prenatal vitamins, ultrasounds, labs, ambulance and hospital bills, newborn clothes, diapers, linens, laundry services, . If we can reach the goal it will help us to expand our support to families and ensure they have access to higher-level care as needed.


**Donation proceeds would assist with the following costs**:
-Prenatal care including ultrasounds and labs: $100
-Labor/birth supplies at our clinic: $100
-Hospital birth for high-risk pregnancies: $1200
-Transfer to and treatment at NICU hospital when needed: $500++
-Postpartum support (meals, baby clothes, home visits, well baby checks): $75
-Birth certification: $150
-Transportation to and from clinic for all prenatal visits: $30

We also could benefit greatly from in-kind donations.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/9E9oajS?ref_=wl_share

***If you have something else to donate that is not on this list, please message us. Instagram: s.e.tunney

Mission:
To provide all of Tijuana and especially migrants comprehensive and respectful maternity care.  We are here to make sure no baby is invisible, and each is greeted with love and in safety. 

Our main aims are to:
-Offer ethical, culturally competent, holistic and trauma-informed care to our patient population free of charge.
-Empower affected individuals to advocate for their own medical and legal rights.

Vision:

To provide ethical, holistic, and culturally-inclusive prenatal and birthing care to migrants.

Prenatal/Postpartum Care for Migrants includes:
- Ultrasounds and lab work
- Community and individual prenatal care and consultations 
- Vitamins, medications and herbal treatments 
- Transportation from the appointment setting to the clinic
- Postpartum home visits and newborn exams, including bringing nourishing meals to family
-Support for securing documents and resources
-Distributing donations of clothing and goods to family

We have been providing midwifery services to migrants since 2016.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/09/midwives-helping-women-mexico-border-170906090026379.html  


https://www.facebook.com/ajplusespanol/videos/las-parteras-de-la-frontera/1934433113275695/

The Refugee Health Alliance (RHA) has been supporting the provision of medical care to refugee and migrant populations in Tijuana since November of 2018.

https://www.refugeehealthalliance.org/

Thank you for your support!

In solidarity,
Parteras Fronterizas (Borderland Midwives) @ Clinica de Justicia en Salud and RHA