Education, Support, and Advocacy for Birth and Wellness Choices Across Hawai'i |
Pacific Birth CollectiveWe are a community-based non profit organization advocating for birth & wellness choices across Hawai'i. |
TIME TO RISE Hawai'i
 | We believe access to Midwifery care improves health outcomes for all Birthing people and their children. Indigenous, Black and Women of Color have provided and maintained Traditional Midwifery as a practice for centuries. We support continuation of the Birth Attendant exemption in HRS 457-J. After July 2023 the current exemption is set to expire, criminalizing Midwifery practitioners who are filling a vital need in our communities. Many Birth Attendants in Hawai’i are cultural practitioners who serve our most rural and under-resourced communities. WHATS AT STAKE? Women will choose to birth at home regardless of whether midwifery is legal. They will sill continue to ask these practioners to attend them even if they are illegal and many women will choose to give birth unassisted if they do not have access to a midwife. To make birth safer, WE NEED MORE COLLABORATIVE CARE WITH MEDICAL PROVIDERS! NOT discriminations, cultural erasure and persecution!!! |
Latest UPDATES on 2023 Legislative ACTION:
In the face of overwhelming support, and after successfully passing through the Hawai'i House of Representatives Committee on Health and the Committee on Consumer Protection, HB955 - Sovereign's Law was stonewalled by Hawai'i House of Representative's Finance Committee Chair, Kyle Yamashita who refused to schedule HB955 for a vote. House Speaker Scott K. Saiki also locked his office and refused to pull HB955, a non-fiscal bill, out of the finance committee for a floor vote.
Despite peaceful efforts, thousands of testimony, emails and phone calls, these men choose to ignore hundreds of constituents from across the islands who maintained a 74 hour continuous Vigil in front of the Capital Building awaiting the last day in which HB955 could be pulled from the finance committee and brought to a floor vote.
The vital importance of HB955 represents the safety of women across Hawai'i who rely on these practitioners, the cultural legacy which traditional midwifery carry's in our communities, the livelihood and life's work of these families and practitioners who hold these traditions, and entry into practice for those who are not able to leave Hawai'i to obtain licensure.
A Lawsuit is in the works!
Donate to the cause ("reproductive choice" in the Comments)
Hawai'i 2023 Legislative Action Initiative 2023 Legislative session opened on January 19th. This means that new legislative Bills are being reviewed by the State House and Senate Committees. Once scheduled the public is given 24 hours to submit written or verbal testimony. Despite overwhelming support, HB955 and Companion bill SB1047 were deferred without a vote meaning they will not be moving forward this year. However, Since these are BIENNIUM Bills (Two-year term of legislative activity), these Bills will pick up where they left off at the Beginning of the next legislative session NEXT JANUARY 2024, after the July 2023 deadline when the current Birth Attendant Exemption is set to expire. Follow Hawai'i Home Birth Collective for further info on Action for 2023 New to Midwifery? Learn the basics and more about the Midwifery legacy here in Hawai'i Media Coverage: Mar 2023 Maui News Now: Midwifery licensing bill reaches crucial deadline Mar 2023 Hawai'i News Now, Mahealani Richardson: Fearing the future of their work, traditional midwives rally at state Capitol Mar 2023 Hawai'i News Now: Hawaii midwives stage sit-in, saying their services could be banned without legislative action Feb 2023 Civil Beat: Midwives will soon need a license, Many Push Back Feb 2023 Hawai'i Public Radio: Midwifery Licensure Laws up for debate at State Legislature | Over 1300 public and organizational testimonies Hawai’i Department of Consumer Affairs, DCCA: verbally testified in support of permanent exemption of Birth Attendants & verbally testified they would enforce regulation of Birth Attendants. North American Registry of Midwives, NARM: the certifying body for licensed midwives in Hawai'i as defined in HRS457-J Papa Ola Lokahi, supporting the exemption since no Kupuna Council has yet to be formed in protection of Native Hawaiian Practitioners Maui County Council, Resolution 23-28 Mayor Bissen, Maui County Hawaiʻi County Council, Resolution 57-23 Kauai'i County Council, Resolution 2023-31 American College of Nurse-Midwives, ACNM, Hawai’i Chapter United Nations National Aboriginal Council of Midwives, NACM 32k + Women and families around the world who have signed our petition! Statewide Resource Guide: |
To Hawai'i 2023 Legislators,
I am _________________. I support HB955, Sovereign's Law RELATING TO CHAPTER 457J, HAWAII REVISED STATUTES. (This is important to me because ____________. )
Access to Midwifery care improves health outcomes and safety for all Birthing people and their children. I support continuation of the Birth Attendant exemption and the addition of the Portfolio Evaluation Process (PEP), certified by the National Association of Registered Midwives (NARM) to be included in HRS 457-J as written in SB1047 and HB955.
These exemptions allow for the profession of Midwifery to continue to grow in equitable ways, allowing accessibility, diversity, cultural and religious freedom for Hawai’i.
After July 2023 the temporary exemption is set to expire, criminalizing Midwifery practitioners who are filling a vital need in our communities. I support the sovereignty of Midwifery to continue through traditional apprenticeship pathways in Hawai'i.
The perpetuation of community-based apprenticeship for the training of Midwives is essential for safety and equitable access to Midwifery care for all people, especially Black, Indigenous and Women of Color families today and for future generations.
Please Support Birth Attendant Exemption and the Portfolio Evaluation Proccess (PEP) for Hawai'i. Support maintaining active pathways for the perpetuation of traditional practices of health and healing in our communities.
Documents of Community Wide Support: |
HI COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
Commitment to the Revitalization of Midwifery
and the End of White Supremacy in Hawaiʻi |
| Protect our midwives Who not only hold us when we are at the precipice of welcoming new life Who sway with us as we dance our babies down Who champion us when we give up hope, not believing in our own power Who care for us while we heal Who teach us the ways of caring for new life Who stay in our hearts forever more as they have witnessed us go to our deepest places and come back stronger than ever with a babe in our arms Knowing we always had the capacity to do so Our birth attendants and doulas Our midwives Who endlessly trained to hold space in our birth rooms Are having to stand at our Capital buildings To chant, protest and demand That we be heard Our rights be protected Now and for the generations ahead The women that have witnessed the primal sounds that welcome maiden to mother Fight for the politicians to hear these same voices To simply give the time to listen That our strength and choices be upheld Our call for accountability be heard Our midwives who should be resting in our warm homes as we dance through labor Are sleeping in cities on concrete Waving signs Distanced from their families Threatened by police Warmed only by the the inner fire of right action Of knowing our path is true and timeless That wise women have held families through birth since the beginning And will until the end Our midwives have become warriors In the face of westernized law Standing shoulder to shoulder Hand in hand The last barricade of flesh and spirit in front of the bulldozer of unjust laws An obstacle created by the ageless wisdom passed down from heart to heart Teacher to student, Mother to daughter Protecting tradition, culture and people From hands that weren’t given permission to touch our bodies From laws that weren’t made to hear or protect our voices From legislators that no longer uphold our values and rights The hands that have been called forth by ancestors and spirit to welcome in life Have to be curled into raised fists As they stand in solidarity With our rights Our families Our choices The fight continues It will not be lost. It is time we support our midwives We champion them as they have us We protect them as they have us We care for them as they have us Our midwives are fighting for us We need to fight for them. The call continues The need is now. Written by Mariah Strong, daughter of Traditional Birth Attendant, Kadi Mourningstar. One of our treasured Maui elders. |
