LB 428 is the 2013 Legislative Bill (easy to see where “LB” comes from now, right?) to remove the home birth exclusion from the Nebraska statutes governing Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs). Since 1983, when their practice was first established in Nebraska, it has been a crime for CNMs to attend home birth.
Our states laws, one of only two that will not allow a CNM to attend a birth in the family home, are lagging behind modern midwifery legislation. Recent studies like the one published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal make clear that birth with a midwife is associated with fewer interventions than non-midwife caregivers, and that birth at home can be just as safe as hospital birth.
Despite a lack of practical access to home birth attendants recognized by the state, home births in Nebraska increased by 30% between 2005 and 2010, a rate that is at least keeping up with and possibly exceeding the national rate of increase.
Passage of LB 428 is not the only step necessary to gain practical access to CNM-attended home birth in Nebraska, but it is an important one.
A history of Nebraska friends of midwives and home birth advocacy in Nebraska ca be found here:
http://nefriendsofmidwives.weebly.com/history-of-legislative-efforts.html
