Advocate

Two of the core competencies of a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator center upon advocacy—individual advocacy and stakeholder advocacy.

Lamaze International continues to expand advocacy efforts by engaging policymakers, payers and providers to develop strategic partnerships to increase access to childbirth education. Efforts on the local, state and national levels are critical to this endeavor and we can only succeed with the expertise and efforts of our membership.

Advocacy Efforts

Lamaze signed a letter supporting Senator Patty Murray's (D-WA) bill S.1045, the Save Women’s Preventive Care Act. This bill would protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Women's Preventive Services so that all health plans provide maternity and newborn care, lactation support and clinical preventive coverage. As part of the ACA's Essential Health Benefits, these services align with the Health Resources & Services Administration's, ACOG’s, and the National Academy of Medicine’s clinical guidance for women and children’s health.
Lamaze signed a letter supporting H.R. 1318, the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act. Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) introduced H.R. 1318 to better track and report maternal mortality causes, as well as eliminate disparities in maternal health outcomes. The bill would require states to establish maternal mortality review committees, which would help expose gaps in care and highlight the role that childbirth education has in improving maternal health outcomes.
Lamaze responded to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Evidence-based Practice Center's request for literature to support a Systematic Review of Breastfeeding Programs and Policies, Breastfeeding Uptake and Maternal Health Outcomes in Developed Countries.

How You Can Help

Advocacy Summit

Lamaze held its inaugural Advocacy Summit in October 2017 with over 90 members visiting Capitol Hill to meet with over 100 Congressional offices. Summit participants received advocacy training prior to arriving in D.C. via an interactive webinar that addressed the different types of advocacy and how individuals can effectively advocate on their own.

Attendees also received on-the-ground training from Neel Shah, MD, MPP, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Delivery Decisions Initiative at the Ariadne Labs for Health Systems Innovation; Ginger Breedlove, CNM, Ph.D., FACNM, President of March for Moms Association, and Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations, Baby+Co; and the Lamaze Government Relations team.

While meeting with Congressional members and their staffs, attendees provided information about the critical role that evidence-based childbirth education has in improving maternal and childbirth outcomes, as well as the alarming U.S. maternal mortality rates. Summit attendees also asked that members of Congress support the following bills:

Resources

We have developed a series of resources that speak to the state of U.S. childbirth outcomes and the role that Lamaze and its members have in improving these outcomes. After all, we are educators, and these resources will help you educate your members of Congress, fellow providers and other policymakers in your states and communities about Lamaze International’s mission and the critical role that evidence-based childbirth education has in improving childbirth outcomes.

Optimize your fundraising efforts with our Fundraising Toolkit.
Endorse the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI) and download materials that promote this initiative.
Shop for books, videos and other materials that promote natural, safe and healthy birth, including Giving Birth with Confidence (Official Lamaze Guide, 3^rd Edition).
Support the Sharron S. Humenick International Development Fund.

Advocacy Resources PDF Downloads

Together, we can improve access to evidence-based childbirth education—and ultimately, childbirth outcomes. Let us know if you have questions about, or ideas for, Lamaze advocacy.