Ohioans for the Preservation of Traditional Midwifery
Welcome!
NOTICE: It has been brought to my attention that there are some mistakes and on the site. While we try hard to ensure that the site is well- done, due to our busy lives and thus lack of time to work on the site, we sometimes make errors.
We will be editing the site and correcting these errors over the next few days; please be patient as we do this and respect that fact that this site is a work in progress!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORT!
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We are a group of midwives, homebirth families and homebirth advocates who work towards the preservation of the practice of Traditional Midwifery. We believe that the preservation of the ancient and time- tested practice of Traditional Midwifery is integral to the humane management of maternal and newborn care and, as such, is worthy of defending and preserving.
OPTM is not against licensure; OPTM is against mandatory licensure- that is the idea that all midwives must be licensed or face misdemeanor charges. OPTM is against mandatory licensure because we believe that any law that restricts the autonomous practice of midwives or any constraints on a woman's right to choose her maternity care provider is contradictory to the definition and description of Traditional Midwifery. We also believe that a mandatory licensure law for midwives is unfair, dangerous, degrading and disrespectful to women seeking midwifery care. We believe that both women and midwives must be allowed to choose for themselves whether or not licensure works for them; therefore we do not support any licensure bill that is not voluntary. We believe that midwives who wish to be licensed should have that right and that midwives who do not want to be licensed also must also have that right.
Therefore OPTM does not support the current bill being submitted by Ohio Midwives Alliance. We ask that visitors to our site who share our beliefs assist us in building up resistance against the bill. How you can help.
What's New?and such...
Well, the times they are a- changin' and so must we!
Please check out the Plain Dealer Article about Licensure for Ohio Midwives...!
Old friends to our site will notice that it is quite different; we hope you like the changes!
We welcome any and all new friends and we hope that you enjoy the site; that you get something out of it and that you will come back many times over!
The Legislative Issue is heating up with a bill about to be submitted. We at OPTM believe that there is little time left to dawdle and we hope our supporters feel the same! We have included a page to motivate our supporters who all lead very busy lives, I am sure! Check it out if you agree with us but feel as though you can't help!
We have attempted to refine our definition of Traditional Midwife because we believe that, in order to move forward, we must embrace and reclaim our past.
As usual, this site is a work in progress- please be patient as we continue to add and subtract material!
contact: eireann@owlam.org
Or click to join the OPTM Group/Forum:
