Thanks to everyone's hard work and persistence...

...Wednesday, Feb. 20th, 2008 was a very good day for midwifery at the Missouri Capitol!

We scored a huge victory when the Senate Committee on Pensions, Veterans Affairs, and General Laws (Senator Jason Crowell, chairman) voted 5-1 to combine SB870 and SB1021 and then 5-1 "Do pass" on the combined bill.

The Committee in executive session, discussing combining the midwifery repeal bill,
and the midwifery licensure bill.

"Okay, I'll deliver cookies to the third floor representatives' offices. And you do the Senate side..."
Carissa and Anna

In previous years, midwifery bills have just barely squeaked out of the General Laws committee, even though there has always been a large amount of support from the whole Senate body. I believe this change to an overwhelming amount of support was largely due to the increasing amount of people who have become involved in educating their legislators about midwifery and advocating for it to become a priority in the Missouri legislature.

If you were one of those people faithfully attending in-district meetings, sending emails and letters, making phone calls, etc, you can claim part of this victory!

We literally saw the attitudes of the committee members change over the past week or two as more and more people have contacted them in support of legalizing and licensing Certified Professional Midwives in Missouri. Keep it up! It's an election year, and they want to know what the hot topics are, and also which side the majority of their constituents support!

Part of the hard working crew that volunteered all day Wednesday at the Capitol.
(Unfortunately, all the families from Southeast Missouri had already left when we thought to take a picture. The crowd was much bigger for most of the day!)