Why We Oppose HB 25

UMA recently sent out a legislative alert outlining our opposition to HB 25 and calling for physicians to communicate that opposition to members of the House Health and Human Services Committee.

HB 25 was presented to the committee on January 20th. The medical community was well represented at the hearing. Unfortunately, we were only given 20 minutes to present our side, making it possible for only two physicians, Catherine Wheeler, MD, and Cynthia Jones, MD, to testify.

Fortunately, the committee decided to hold off on taking action on the bill until the next meeting. This is a definite advantage for us to communicate with committee members before a final vote. The next committee meeting will be on Friday, Jan 28th at 8:00 am.

The midwives have been successful arguing the following points:

·        Physicians oppose the bill because they oppose homebirths, which are legal and have always been legal.

·        HB 25 will bring regulation to homebirths that will make homebirths safer.

To counter this, our message should be:

·        HB 25 will NOT make homebirths safer but will make them worse.

Our message cannot be that homebirths are bad per se. 
Here’s why HB 25 will make homebirths less safe:

·        Licensing is optional. Some will license; others won’t. But even those who choose to be licensed can have their license taken away and still deliver babies.

·        Prescription drugs, including anti-hemorrhaging drugs, are not necessary for homebirths and can, instead, lead to unnecessary delays in medical transport. Indeed, HB 25 itself stands for the proposition that the only thing that is really necessary for a home birth is oxygen, since that is the only thing that non-licensed Utah midwives would be allowed to use.

·        HB 25 is not even close to imposing the kinds of regulations that exist in other states. Other states either require physician involvement for prescription drugs and a determination of candidates for homebirths or they include a very rigid set of standards for when consultation and medical transport must occur.

·        The Texas law, which HB 25 was initially modeled after, is a good example of this. It creates a three-line scope of practice, a balanced board, and prohibits any use of prescription drugs without physician involvement. http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/oc.toc.htm (See Chapter 203). Other state laws include Colorado, Arizona, and Montana. http://www.narm.org/laws.htm

If you have a relationship with or are a constituent of one the committee members, we’d encourage you to weigh in on the issue.  The members of the Health and Human Services Committee include the following:

Brad Last--Washington (voted against last year's bill)
Paul Ray--Davis (new legislator)
Gregg Buxton--Weber (voted for bill)
Ronda Menlove--Cache/Box Elder (new legislator)
Becky Lockhart--Utah (voted for bill)
Steve Mascaro--Salt Lake (voted for bill)
Pat Jones--Salt Lake (voted for bill)
David Litvack--Salt Lake (voted for bill)

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