Contact CEO  

Updated ~ Wednesday February 16, 2011 01:34 

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The Bottom Line --
 the 5-minute run-down for mothers
and other busy people

     2-Minute Scoop

CEO's relationship with the midwife problem

 Next Generation' Form Letter Template

(1) Basic Background Information on CEO

Read the  "2-Minute Scoop". If pertinent, also read "CEO's relationship with the midwife problem" (also can be accessed from bottom of the "2-minute Scoop" document).

Print out & Read:

1) Printer-friendly PDF for Info and request for CEO / A_CEO membership

2) Printer-Friendly PDF ~ purpose, abbreviated instructions, & address for letters to Maria Shriver

3) If you are very busy go directly to:  'Next Generation' Form Letter Template  This 'Chinese menu' technique contains stand-alone comments that can be cut and pasted to create a unique letter to Maria Shriver. 

4) if you don't have the time or patience for any of these steps, go directly to the FORM LETTER

These brief documents will give a good "quotable" synopsis of the philosophy and the action plan of CEO.

Pass these links and information on via email or hard copy to friends and family.

(2) CEO Membership:

Send your name and other information requested on the membership form by email to info@sciencebasedbirth.com. There are no dues or fees.

(3) Action Plan ~ Write a Letter to California First Lady Maria Shriver

Using the information in the abbreviated "instructions/address", write a brief letter (1-2 paragraphs) to Maria Shriver. You do not need to be a California resident. Mail the original to the address provided. Email a copy to info@sciencebasedbirth.com. so we can post it on the CEO archive.

Important ideas to communicate are (pick a couple):

A) The medically-interventive, obstetrical model used routinely on healthy women causes problems. Obstetrical intervention for healthy women is not scientifically-based. We need public dialog to bring about appropriate changes in our national maternity care policy and the reform these potentially harmful obstetrical practices.

B) Physiological management provides the safest and most cost-effective form of maternity care and therefore, science-based or ‘physiological’ model of childbirth should be the universal standard for healthy women with normal pregnancies for healthy populations.

C) Legislative hearings are necessary so childbearing families who have had negative experiences with the current system can testify on problems such as:

(1) off-label use of Cytotec for labor induction & increasing percentage of non-medical induction
(2) the ever-climbing cesarean section and maternal mortality rate that is 30th
(3) the danger in promoting the maternal choice cesarean as an idealized form of childbirth
(4) the physically damaging effects on the pelvic floor and pelvic organs associated with medical management of vaginal birth --

examples include: procedures or policies that keep a laboring woman confined to bed such as continuous electronic fetal monitoring,

the use of IVs and artificial hormones to stimulate or accelerate labor,

narcotics, epidural anesthesia,

requiring the mother to labor or push in anti-gradational positions,

prolonged-breathe holding (valsalva maneuver),

episiotomy, instrumental or operative delivery, etc

D) The need for a new law requiring physicians to provide full information about the risks of each significant medical or surgical intervention and to obtain truly informed consent before substituting medical and surgical interventions in place of the safer, evidence-based principles of physiological management

(2)  For those with more than 5 minutes, we suggest reading:

(a) the "Problem Statement", which starts near the bottom of the index page. Try out a few of the 20+ links to the scientific literature, listed by topic in a grid at the end of the document.

(b) read the full document called "Action Plan & Address for Maria Shriver" (earlier link was to an abbreviated version). The Action Plan lists 21 possible topics, including access to a "relocated home birth" for mothers with risk factors. The hyper link is at the top-left of index page.

(c) The "Position Paper" and "White Paper" are both excellent but quite long. 

(3)   Important Follow-up: "What Every Pregnant Woman Needs to Know about Cesarean Section"

We strongly urge CEO supporter go to the Maternity Center Association (MCA) web site www.maternityWise.org and download the PDF file for "What Every Pregnant Woman Needs to Know about Cesarean Section". See "Cesarean section" — a new booklet to help prepare every pregnant woman to make informed decisions about this important matter.

It's scientifically-based systemic review in top-notch. Its conclusions do not use the specific language of physiological principles and management or identify the "social model of childbirth", but it clearly describes the benefits of avoiding cesarean section surgery and other forms of operative delivery including episiotomy, forceps and vacuum extraction. Then it identifies the central role of physiological management in avoiding these interventions. This is a 'must-read' for birth activists.

Other excellent documents on the MCA are the "Continuous labor support" — a systematic review finding important benefits and no known downsides is available here and "Listening to Mothers" — for the first time ever, hear what women nationwide are saying about their childbearing experiences.


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