MFSB Lobby Day 2019

Thank You to all who participated in 2019 MFSB Lobby Day!

A big shout out for all who made Lobby Day 2019 a success! Thank you to all who made the trip to Annapolis, and also those who couldn’t be there in person but made phone calls and sent e-mails. About 25 of us met with senators, delegates, and their staff to educate them on our cesarean bill and the need for maternity care data transparency. Our lobbyist Caitlin McDonough had us introduced on the House and Senate floors, we held a reception for legislators, and we picked up about 12 co-sponsors for our bill!! A big thank you to Delegate Karen Lewis-Young for sponsoring the bill, and to all of the co-sponsors!

You can still call and email your delegates and ask them to support HB 247! If you want help tracking down their phone numbers or emails just let us know, we are happy to help! And please consider submitting written testimony for the bill hearing on February 13.  More information is on the Events Calendar to the right.

Mark Your Calendars!
2019 Lobby Day for MFSB is Tuesday, January 22nd!

This is YOUR chance to tell YOUR representatives, in person, why improving access to evidence-based, culturally sensitive, maternity care in Maryland is important to you! It’s a great opportunity to build that personal connection that can make such a difference in legislators truly understanding the importance of our work and what this really means to their own constituents.

If you are coming, please fill out the registration form so we can set up your appointments to meet with your representatives and provide you with handouts and talking points.

We will have a cesarean study bill, and should have the text to share with you shortly. This bill will look at cesarean rates in Maryland, strategies used by other states to lower cesarean rates, and suggest recommendations based on the findings. This bill gives us the opportunity to educate our representatives on the issue and open the door for more specific legislation relating to cesareans and VBAC in the future.

We are also working on maternal data transparency, and may have a bill this session. Did you know that a woman’s risk of certain interventions during childbirth is largely influenced by the specific place of birth (which hospital) and provider chosen? Did you know that the state already collects a huge amount of data regarding this, but that it isn’t easily accessible to the general public? Do you think it should be, so that Maryland families can make informed decisions about their care?

Do you believe that Maryland families should have:

  • Access to VBAC (and other evidence-based birth options) in all settings?
  • Increased access to birth centers?

We need as many of you there, in person, as possible. We need to send a message to our representatives that Maryland Families are still willing to fight for better maternity care in this state.

If you are planning to attend, all you have to do is RSVP to this event and fill out the registration form. We will provide you with handouts and talking points. We will arrange appointments with your representatives for you. Most will occur between 9 am and 1 pm that day (if you have a specific time constraint let us know). Lobby day is family friendly.

If you can’t make it on the 22nd but would like to make a phone call or send an e-mail, please let us know that as well so we can help facilitate that contact too!

We hope to see you there!

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Send donations to:

Maryland Families
for Safe Birth, Inc.
PO Box 1494
Ellicott City, MD 20141

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