A Call to Action from the Catholic Legislative Network re SB 1237

Currently, in California, a certified nurse-midwife is authorized to attend cases of normal childbirth and to provide prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum care, including family-planning care, for the mother, and immediate care for the newborn as long as they are under the supervision of a licensed physician and surgeon. SB 1237 (Dodd, D-Vacaville ) would remove the required supervision. While we support the expansion of the midwives’ scope of practice, as Catholics, we are concerned with the expansion of abortion access this bill brings with it.

California is among the few states that allows certified midwives to include abortion care under their scope of practice. California is one of only 12 states in the country where abortions are allowed by someone other than a licensed physician. Now AB 1237 allow abortions without even the supervision of a licensed physician.

SB 1237 will endanger women by removing the supervision requirement. Not only will this hurt women, but it will also increase the number of innocent children killed every day. Finally, the bill also does not indicate clearly whether the nurse-midwives will be required to carry malpractice insurance. Ask your representative to protect women and the unborn by rejecting this increase to abortion access.

Urge your representative to vote NO on SB 1237. For more information visit www.cacatholic.org/action-alerts