Links and resources regarding COVID 19

Not sure whether you should switch to a home birth now? Here’s a fact sheet to help! If you’re in Colorado, pregnant, and not sure what to do - call our bilingual helpline: 720-634-6247

Experienced (or witnessed) mistreatment or a violation of human rights while pregnant or birthing during the COVID-19 pandemic? Tell us more. We are accepting stories from anywhere in the world. You can read more about the reports we have received here.

Guidelines for Midwives, Community Birth, and Auxiliary Units:

Interim Guidelines for Community-Based Midwives During the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Midwives Association of Washington State.

Guidelines for Auxiliary Maternity Units from the American Association of Birth Centers and the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers.

Materials for advocacy:

To foster a paradigm shift we made this fact sheet, Opportunity for a paradigm shift in maternity care: guiding principles for getting the most out of COVID-19.

The Birth Rights Bar Associations resource created this document identifying challenges pregnant and birthing people face during COVID 19. BRBA also did this analysis of Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.11 which allows CPMs licensed outside NY to practice in New York without a New York license during the order.

This resource from the Birth Rights Bar Association and National Advocates for Pregnant Women is useful all the time, but especially during COVID-19. Birth Rights: A resource for everyday people to defend human rights during labor and birth. Y, aqui en Español!

Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery on Out-of-Hospital Birth and Pandemic Planning.

Community-based groups all over the world have been responding and developing local strategies. Here is one example: Centering Community: Ancient Song's Response to COVID-19.

The Birth Place Lab has convened a Global Task Force on Coordination of Care Across Birth Settings During COVID-19 Pandemic which will produce a repository of useful guidance. A link to their existing COVID webpage is below. The Birth Place Lab also has many tools created pre-COVID but that are relevant to the kinds of issues COVID brings up in the context of perinatal health care. We recommend the Best Practice Guidelines for Interprofessional Collaboration: Community Midwives and Specialist Providers and Best Practice Guidelines: Transfer from Planned Home Birth to Hospital.

This document from the Birth Rights Bar Association identifies several intersecting issues (like drug policy, immigration, racism) that should be considered when planning for a pandemic response to perinatal care, like, for example the impact of child protective services during COVID. We recommend Movement For Family Power’s COVID page.

Colorado specific materials:

Here is the letter Elephant Circle and the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights sent to Governor Polis with recommendations of several ways to address the needs of pregnant and birthing people during this time.

That letter inspired this letter to the Office of Health Equity from the Infant and Maternal Mortality Policy Workgroup of Raise Colorado; A Mother’s Choice Midwifery; Colorado Children’s Campaign; Elephant Circle.

One of the recommendations is to have Colorado CPMs included as Clinical Staff at Birth Centers.

This letter was informed, in part, by a survey of community birthworkers here in Colorado. Read a summary of what we found about Colorado’s community birthworkers’ capacity during COVID-19.

This is a fact sheet on Community Birth and Pandemic Planning.

Resource compilations we recommend:

Context:

This fact sheet Maternity Care in the United States: We Can – and Must – Do Better provides key foundational information about perinatal health care in this country. This report on Four Models to Implement provides key policy guidance.

This statement from National Advocates for Pregnant Women, What We Can Learn From Hospital Restrictions on Birth Support During the Coronavirus Pandemic, provides helpful context.

This landing page for the National Academy’s 2020 report Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice is a great place to start to get oriented to birth settings in the United States.

This report from the Center for American Progress on Eliminating Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Mortality: A Comprehensive Policy Blueprint By Jamila Taylor, Cristina Novoa, Katie Hamm, and Shilpa Phadke provides important context plus policy recommendation.

We love these Principles for Protecting Civil and Political Rights in the Fight against Covid-19 from Freedom House.

Elephant Circle in the Media
The First Tool to Name Obstetric Racism Might Finally Push Policymakers Into Action
The First Tool to Name Obstetric Racism Might Finally Push Policymakers Into Action

Ms. Magazine ran this op-ed by Indra Lusero and Karen Scott on October 4, 2023 in advance of the first People’s Tribunal to End Obstetric Violence and Obstetric Racism.

No longer just “hippie” moms-to-be: More women delivering babies at home with Colorado midwives
No longer just “hippie” moms-to-be: More women delivering babies at home with Colorado midwives

Check out this article covered in the Denver Post by Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton on October 12, 2023, featuring members of our Certified Professional Midwives Task Force.

Offering support– not stigma– to pregnant and lactating people using cannabis
Offering support– not stigma– to pregnant and lactating people using cannabis

This blog post was published on Parents Thrive Colorado.

Thanks to New Law, Pregnant Women Can Now Avoid Incarceration in Colorado
Thanks to New Law, Pregnant Women Can Now Avoid Incarceration in Colorado

Westword covers our bill, HB23-1187 in this article, including stories of partners like Pam Clifton.

Denver doulas assist those who are pregnant or postpartum and struggling with substance use disorder
Denver doulas assist those who are pregnant or postpartum and struggling with substance use disorder

Rocky Mountain PBS published this article July 25, 2023. Elephant Circle provides the doula training for this program.

Colorado mothers speak out against OBGYN racism to try to reverse decades-long trend of dangerous care
Colorado mothers speak out against OBGYN racism to try to reverse decades-long trend of dangerous care

With quotes from Lauren Smith and Indra Lusero, this article from the Colorado Sun addresses recent reports and obstetric racism.

Charges against Aurora parents in co-sleeping death of 2-day-old baby draw condemnation from pregnancy justice groups
Charges against Aurora parents in co-sleeping death of 2-day-old baby draw condemnation from pregnancy justice groups

This article was published in the Denver Post by Saja Hindi and includes quotes from Elephant Circle Co-Deputy Director Heather Thompson, and Birth Equity Steering Committee member Kayla Frawley and discussion of our advocacy with Soul 2 Soul Sisters and Progress Now Colorado.

Dari-speaking doulas are part of a new wave of birth workers in Colorado
Dari-speaking doulas are part of a new wave of birth workers in Colorado

Dari-speaking doulas are part of a new wave of birth workers in Colorado. Published by Rocky Mountain PBS.

Colorado’s doctors and nurses are still disproportionately white. These groups are trying to change that.
Colorado’s doctors and nurses are still disproportionately white. These groups are trying to change that.

Colorado’s doctors and nurses are still disproportionately white. These groups are trying to change that. Published in the Denver Post.

Colorado’s maternal death rate is rising. A new report says the answer is prenatal care, mental health screens.
Colorado’s maternal death rate is rising. A new report says the answer is prenatal care, mental health screens.

Colorado’s maternal death rate is rising. A new report says the answer is prenatal care, mental health screens by Jennifer Brown in the Colorado Sun.