Midwife Autonomy Endangered by MANA President Sarita Bennett

1. Sarita has got to go. Those of us in VA know what harm she has caused and its time the world knows. I wish this petition could reach more people. 2. Its a SHAME that MANA has yet to respond and is truly a sign that they have been completely infiltrated and no longer represent the interests of midwives. There is no excuse for this behavior and midwives need to look elsewhere for support and representation.

MANA's mission and purpose is to promote the midwifery model of care and the autonomous practice of midwives to protect families' right to choose where, how and with whom to give birth. Anything that promotes oversight by a medical practitioner is outside of MANA's mission and purpose. Collaborative care is encouraged with midwives as equal care providers.

MANA is supposed to support all types of midwives. No representative should be publicly disavowing CPMs.

Midwives should have more autonomy, not less. We should be allowed to practice within our FULL scope of care in all states and countries.

I Support midwifery autonomy

We need to follow the bylaws and have proper elections.

Midwives know more about birthing than most Drs. Pregnancy is not an illness. Birth is not surgical, and doctors can be assigned when the state finances a program to pay for it.

Resign.

Retired lay midwife from Santa Cruz, CA. As such, attended the first MANA conference in Texas in 1977 (?). This woman is abusing her position in MANA and should resign immediately.

Self-regulated and autonomous credentialed midwifery is essential to maintaining the Midwives' Model of Care, whose principles have consistently been shown in the research literature to produce the best outcomes for mothers and babies.

I’m a doctor. I was trained by CNMs is residency. I know Dr Bennett and I have never been impressed with her postpartum care. The CNMs that trained me highlighted this. They were excellent. Because they worked in a hospital setting the were “supervised” by physicians. Physicians who were habitually annoyed when asked for opinions and to intervene if necessary. I do not see how this makes anyone “safer”. It only increases complexity of care and revenue for doctors/the system. It should fall on the individual to research and judge what is right for them and their child. I’m surprised she is calling for this. She was a backwoods midwife for some time in WV, only going to medical school later. So she herself was a CPM once, and very unsupervised. When I met her she was very anti-system, or so she conveyed. Too many of us drink the poison.

I’m a BSN nurse who had a wonderful homebirth by a CPM And believe in their rights and abilities to practice autonomously.

This is an abuse of power. Midwives should be allowed to operate independently without crony capitalism and big pharma being involved.

Midwives and patients alike deserve midwifery autonomy.

I support my fellow midwives’ autonomy!

Dr. Bennett's statements that she does not support autonomous midwifery period, plus her attempts to dissuade Virginia Midwives from advancing autonomy because osteopaths and MDs, in general, don't like it is out of alignment with leadership in a midwifery organization. Of course, the MDs don't like it. We don't defer to medical associations' opinions on the validity of midwifery. Our outcomes, our client satisfaction, and the global historic tradition of midwives are what speak for us. MANA, please don't delay in making a statement and removing Dr. Bennett from the BOD.

Resign !

Resign now!

In no way, shape, or form has there ever been any evidence that physician control of midwifery has made anyone safer. These actions on the part of MANA's president only encourage the denigration and marginalization of all midwives that plagues most of the USA. If MANA is refusing to acknowledge this, perhaps all midwives who are members who do not agree should vote with their feet and resign the organization, and a new organization could arise from it.

Allow diversity in birth! Allow choice. Let medicine be helpful not a power stance.