Espacio Para La Familia,

Family Health and Wellness Center
Opens In  Playa Chiquita, Costa Rica

On January 22, 2009, Espacio Para La Familia in Playa Chiquita, Costa Rica opened her doors. The opening ceremony of Espacio was held on January 23rd, with over 40 people in attendance as the community joined together in celebration of this innovative family health and wellness center.                       

Committed in its mission statement to “creatively encourage a healthy, loving family environment for our multicultural community”, Espacio Para La Familia was founded in a partnership between Birth Without Boundaries International and 5 women of Playa Chiquita, Costa Rica. Espacio will provide education, resources and information on issues relating to families’ physical, emotional and spiritual health.  What began as a childbirth resource center has blossomed into a family health and wellness education center when the founders recognized the need to address the connectedness between childbirth issues and crucial challenges facing families such as relationships, health, and the environment.

The center serves the Talamanca, Costa Rica region located in the Limon province that has an estimated population of 56,000 with a coastal population of 14,000. The community consists of one third indigenous people, mostly from the BriBri tribe and locally born people who are descendents of Africans arriving in Costa Rica 100 years ago. Within the last 20 years, expatriates from around the world have also made this tropical area, where lush jungle meets the sea, their home. The rich culture in the community is unique in Costa Rica with a harmonious, cooperative, co-existence of diverse groups.

Located in an area with very limited health, pre-natal care and almost no family or social services, Espacio Para La Familia, serves an urgent community need.  Most inhabitants live on very modest incomes at or below the poverty level and do not have transportation to the clinic/hospital or the means to pay for care much less health education. The Espacio provides care and classes to the community either free of charge or on a sliding scale basis. This important care and education will provide the foundation for strong, healthy families, disease prevention as well as environmentally sustainable lifestyles.

As 9 months of preparation for Espacio was coming to an end, the founders were given a message that was read to the attendees during the opening ceremony.  As you read this message, please join us in celebration of the miraculous changes that we are witnessing as we all continue to work together toward a new and peaceful world.

.. ..

A Message From the Hopi Elders

You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour

Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour

Here are the things that must be considered

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relation?

Where is your water?

Know your garden

It is time to speak your Truth

Create your community

Be good to each other

And do not look outside yourself for the leader

This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing now very fast

It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid

They will try to hold on to the shore

They will feel like they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly

Know the river has its destination

The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off toward the middle of the river 

Keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water

See who is there with you and celebrate

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all Ourselves!

For the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt
The time of the lonely wolf is over

Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration

We are the ones we have been waiting for

The Elders,

Oraibi, Arizona

Hopi Nation

.. ..
Would you or your group or organization like to contribute materials or resources to Espacio?  Please contact us at espacioparalafamilia@hotmail.com for a complete list of needs and our funding proposal. Or visit our website to make a tax deductible donation
Thank you for your support and participation!

Espacio Para La Familia would like to thank the following people for their support and contributions:

Betsy Mercogliano of The Family Life Center of Albany, NY
Kate Priest RN, NY
Tracey Bowman, CNM, New Hampshire
And much thanks and gratitude to those who have supported the concept of this project from the beginning

Debra Pascali Bonaro, Creator of “Orgasmic Birth”
Elizabeth Davis, Author “Heart and Hands”
Robbie Davis Floyd, Author “Birth Models That Work”
Eneyda Ramos, Midwifery Today
Jan Tritten, Editor Midwifery Today

May 23, 2008 - HARRISBURG, PA.

COMMONWEALTH COURT SAYS THE PRACTICE OF MIDWIFERY IS NOT THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

Homebirth Midwife Diane Goslin won her appeal after a 5-2 ruling from the Commonwealth Court judges stated that "practicing midwifery cannot be construed to be the same as practicing medicine and surgery". Whether it was because of the handmade signs we carried to the Capitol for all of those rallies, or the cosmic forces just spinning off the full moon earlier last week, some of the people in power seem to have finally "gotten it".

It's true that Pennsylvania laws on midwifery (we have one from 1929, and one from 1985) are confusing and seem to contradict each other, and for this reason, some could say that Diane won her appeal because of a technicality. But, hey - we still won this one, and for that I am personally celebrating. Just for a minute, though, because the Medical Board can still appeal this decision, and it's very clear to everyone in PA that the law needs to be remedied. Now is the time we need to get busy. We need a good law that clearly includes all midwives, and allows them to practice and regulate themselves. Birth is not an illness - and midwifery is not the practice of medicine. Let the midwives have their own board - let them decide who is and is not qualified to catch a baby. Require the obstetricians and hospitals to work in harmony with midwives for pregnancies and births that need medical attention.

We, the "public" must ask for these things. We, the "public" must organize ourselves to offer suggestions to those in power politically - because as much as we are a powerful voice - we still don't get to vote on the senate floor. We, the "public" carry the responsibility of being relentless in our pursuit of childbirth freedom.

While freedom of choice is the strongest driving force behind this battle, we cannot ignore the revenue generated from the current medical model of childbirth or the power that comes when such astronomical amounts of money are involved. The average cost for a homebirth midwife in PA is $2000 - a fraction of the cost for a hospital birth - making it affordable, especially to the millions of uninsured families in our country. Compare this cost with a hospital bill I saw belonging to a personal friend who gave birth in a hospital recently. Over $29,000. We are allowing others to profit from the births of our babies, and with the CDC's latest maternal mortality rates (the U.S ranks second to last in the industrialized world), the cost to women is becoming far greater than what the hospital bills us for.

Midwives are a real and literal threat to this current birth system. Remember, that it was only about 60 years ago that the hospital became the typical place for birth. My own father, born in 1938, was born at home. In these recent years, we have blindly accepted that childbirth is a medical condition. It's important to establish that this system has been dependent on societies beliefs and fears of childbirth, that would preclude midwifery as the primary model of care. When those within this system feel threatened, they act. In the American Medical Associations literature, the "Scope of Practice Partnership", this organization calls for it's members to "immediately embark on a campaign to identify and have elected or appointed to state medical boards physicians (MDs or DOs) who are committed to asserting and exercising their full authority to regulate the practice of medicine by all persons within a state notwithstanding efforts by boards of nursing or other entities that seek to unilaterally redefine their scope of practice into areas that are true medical practice." - within their list of those "entities", in another part of the document, it specifically lists midwives. They are asking their members to "influence" state medical boards to keep midwives, and others that threaten their business - out. Not surprising, but it seems a bit arrogant to actually put something like that in print. It's good to note that they do feel threatened, as they should. When we can all establish, as the Commonwealth Court has just done, that midwifery is not the practice of medicine, we are in a great place to initiate change.

As part of this change, The National Birth Policy Coalition was formed during a summit of childbirth activists in Chicago last year. The coalition has initiated the "The Big Push for Midwives Campaign" partly in response to the AMA's directive. This campaign is nationwide and has been endorsed by organizations such as Citizens for Midwifery, Midwives Alliance of North America, North American Registry of Midwives and Birth Without Boundaries (see www.thebigpushformidwives.org). The goals of the campaign are "to fully integrate the Midwives Model of Care into the health care systems of our states, to highlight the importance of family healthcare choices and to defend the ability of CPMs to provide legal and safe prenatal, birth and postpartum care to families in every state.  Childbirth activists from the campaign's participating states are pooling their collective resources and experience to coordinate and optimize advocacy efforts during 2008". On a local level, Pennsylvania Families for Safe Birth was recently organized to bring advocates from across the state together to strengthen the grassroots campaign for childbirth and midwifery freedom in PA (www.pafamiliesforsafebirth.org). The Midwives Alliance of PA is another organization that is connecting midwives throughout the state (www.pamidwivesalliance.org). We are joining together, becoming organized, and are completely ready and prepared to create a new paradigm in childbirth.

Thank you to Diane Goslin for finding the emotional stamina to continue this fight (legal costs are unimaginable - please donate to her legal fund at www.savehomebirth.org). Thank you to Jody Ward for sending out the very first email ever about Diane, and for working so very hard for the past year and a half. To the midwives, grassroots organizers and advocates that continue to work constantly on this issue - THANK YOU - we are doing it.  Let's ride this wave of victory from the Commonwealth Court, and use it to further our initiative to   solidly establish the legitimacy of midwifery in PA and to provide freedom in childbirth to the families here.  Join us if you haven't already by going to the aforementioned websites to see what part you can play in this exciting time of history.

May the spirit of hope and love and change surround us all as we look to a new world that is coming as a result of our work.

Peace,

Salem, Executive Director BWB

􀂃 Monitors the physical, psychological,

and social well-being of the mother

throughout the childbearing cycle

􀂃 Provides the mother with individualized

education, counseling, and prenatal

care, continuous hands-on assistance

during labor and delivery, and

postpartum support

􀂃 Minimizes technological interventions

􀂃 Identifies and refers women who

require obstetrical attention

The application of this woman-centered

model of care has been proven to reduce

the incidence of birth injury, trauma, and

cesarean section.

An enthusiastic crowd of over a hundred mothers, fathers, babies, midwives, and freedom-lovers gathered in the state capitol today to celebrate the
birth of PA Families for Safe Birth (PFSB.)

The rally was held in concert with other state rallies as part of The Big Push for Midwives Campaign which is the first initiative of the National Birth Policy Coalition.  The NBPC is focused on increasing access to the Midwives Model of Care in all settings, as well as supporting legislative initiatives that promote the autonomous practice of Certified Professional Midwives and Certified Nurse-Midwives .

Keynote speaker, Krystn Madrine, said, "We are part of something that
is much bigger than what you see here. All across the country today
people are coming together to support the idea of midwives." She
reminded us that, "(We) are part of the tapestry of the movement
toward having better birth."

Marsden Wagner, former director of Womens and Childrens Health of the World Health Organization said, "Pennsylvania is in a mess. You have a Medical Board who is attacking midwives. You have obstetricians in this state who say that homebirth is dangerous, that midwives are dangerous." Part of the mission of PFSB is to raise awareness and support for families choosing an out-of hospital birth as a safe, appropriate option. Dr. Wagner reminded us that all of the evidence supports the claim that midwife-attended birth is safe.

One of the goals of PFSB is to support legislation that will license
Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in Pennsylvania, giving them
freedom to serve Pennsylvania's women. "We are ready for, and
demanding change," said Salem, Executive Director of Birth Without
Boundaries, International. "We need each one of you. We need our midwives; regardless of what letters come before the `M.' We need our midwives, period."

"We are in the very early stages of our pregnancy," said Ms.
Madrine. "Nobody can see. We aren't showing yet. We're still
having some morning sickness. We are still deciding which vitamins
to take." But like the growing child, she said, the movement toward
childbirth freedom is living and growing and swelling across the
country. "So you can get involved and have an impact. It has to come
from you." she told the consumers, saying it is time for us to give
back and to stop the harassment of midwives.

"At the end of the day," said Dr. Wagner, "this is all about freedom.
The families of PA do not today have freedom to choose the kind of
birth they want where they want it. The sanctity of all families has
been taken away from you. PA families must get the truth, because
the truth will make them free."

The Roots of Love, Health & Happiness:

"Ancient Wisdom & Modern Science

& the Mother-Baby"

A one day workshop presented by

SUZANNE ARMS

Author, Speaker,

& Filmmaker

Saturday, February 9th, 2008

11:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

1280 Clover Lane, Harrisburg, PA 17113

COST:

$75 on or before January 30th, 2008

$100 after January 30th, 2008

Includes catered lunch at 1:30p.m.

This day long workshop will cover a wide variety of topics related to birth and the
mother-baby dyad. Learn how unresolved trauma at the beginning of life is linked to the
major public health and family crisis that we are dealing with today such as chronic
illness, learning disabilities, anxiety disorders, depression, addictions, self abuse and
violence.

Brought to you by:

Birth Without Boundaries International

& Mothering & More Birth Network

Register online at:

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/91966073

For more information

call Shanden Groff at: 717-608-3145

or email Jill Anderson at: RootsofLoveReg@yahoo.com

So - we were censored last night by Myspace!  Apparantly a powerful sculpture depicting an unassisted childbirth is something deserving of censorship.  One day, people, and yes, even corporations will be able to make a distinction between pornography and the power of maternal beauty portrayed in art.  So, I've written a nice letter to Myspace (copy below). 

Please feel free to send your opinion on this issue to Myspace.

Peace,

Salem

Dear Myspace,

We received a message from you today regarding a photo that violated your terms of service. 

As you can see from our page, we are a non profit 501c3 organization that supports healthy childbirth choices.  We have received grants from organizatons such as the Pennsylvania State Health Dept. and Lamaze International to assist in community education that dispels the myth that breastfeeding and natural childbirth is socially undesirable, or something to be ashamed of.  One of our goals as an organization is to show that breastfeeding and childbirth is normal, natural and beautiful.  As part of our work, the PA Health Dept. has funded an advertising media campaign that will include positive images of breastfeeding mothers.  The reason they are funding this project is because it has become known to health officials that our current social paradigm of aversion to this issue, very clearly impedes women from breastfeeding, which is creating an epidemic of lifelong health issues that are effecting our children.  A solution?  Images. Positive images portraying natural maternal practices that are powerful, real and beautiful.  This, we believe, is one of the greatest ways we can combat harmful social stigmas and effectively shift public perception regarding childbirth issues.

I understand the position that you have within your company and respect the limitations that you operate under.  However, I speak for childbirth and breastfeeding advocates everywhere in asking you to please push through this prevaling social climate of discrimination and institute a policy that allows images of childbirth and breastfeeding mothers to be catagorized differently than pornographic material.  By doing so, you will be setting a precendent for other organizations, proving that you are truly cutting edge.  In addition, BWB will provide positive publicity that would include a press release stating that Myspace is the first mother/baby friendly service of it's kind. 

As you can see from our website and Myspace page, BWB is also an activist organization, recently co-sponsoring an event in Lubbock Texas yesterday.  The event was held in response to the city's censorship of artistic maternal images as being inappropriate (much the same as Myspace has done to us today).  BWB co-sponsored this event with the National endorsement of the ACLU.  The ACLU is now aware that these cases of censorship and discrimination are very prevalent and has taken an official and public stance against it.  It would be a very positive experience for everyone if Myspace were to publically announce and discontinue the censorship of these types of images, rather than have to deal with negative publicity from organizations such as ours regarding this issue.

I am awaiting a prompt response from you.

Thank you.

Respectfully,
Salem Hamilton
Executive Director Birth Without Boundaries, International

I just spoke with Vince Gonzales, the coordinator of yesterday's Nurse In at the Buddy Holly Center.  Please read our previous blog that explains the purpose of the Nurse In.

Vince has reported to me that there was an overwhelming positive response in Lubbock.  Hundreds of supporters came to the event to show their solidarity with breastfeeding mothers, and to let their voices be heard that the discrimination against such maternal practices must end.  Between 30 and 40 breastfeeding mothers came with their babies and nursed as the City of Lubbock offered them refreshments and chairs to sit on.  The chairs were not facing a corner, they were not in a "back room", they were not lidless toilets.  They were chairs, for normal people doing a normal thing.  And the media was there too.  Lots of it.

The event was empowering to all who attended, and has helped push the lactivist movement to a new level by being recognized and supported by the National ACLU.

In short - the event was a huge success!   Birth Without Boundaries was pleased to be a part of it.  Thank you to the lactivists in Lubbock.  A big Thank You to Vince Gonzales, who, as far as we know, is the first man to ever coordinate a Nurse In.  Thank you to the ACLU for it's endorsement of the event.  Thank you to Mothers Acting Up for their support.  Thank you to the masses of media that covered this event positively.

For far too long, the discrimination against nursing mothers has continued.  Sometimes it comes in the form of art censorship as was the case by the City of Lubbock.  Sometimes it's extremely overt harrassment like when Brooke Ryan was asked to cover up her nursing baby or leave the Kentucky Applebee's restaurant that she was in.  Even after Ms. Ryan produced a copy of her state law that protects breastfeeding babies and mothers from harrasment (the copy of the law was given to her from the Health Dept, who produces these cards for moms to carry with them), the manager of the Applebee's restaurant still asked her to cover up or leave.  It happens everyday in one form or another. 

Breastfeeding mothers are becoming stronger regarding their innate maternal rights and responsibilities to their babies.  No longer will they give an unhealthy substance such as formula to their babies to prevent others from feeling uncomfortable when out in public.  No longer will they stay at home for months after the birth of their child to prevent the inevitable feeding time from happening out in public.  No longer will they be shamed into hiding in dirty public toilets to feed their babies. 

What happened in our society that has pushed these mothers into the bathroom for so long?  It's clearly not an issue of morality, or discretion, just stand in line at the grocery store and look at the magazine covers.  Could it be that real maternal femininity as in the case of breastfeeding, or pushing a baby out of our bodies, threatens something?  Perhaps a system that reveres the thin, adolescent, submissive, sub-intelligent female type as sexy, with breasts that are objectified for the pleasure of almost everyone except for a baby who, as a mammmal, naturally depends on these objects for it's life sustaining source of food.  This suppression of maternal responsibilities and innate rights is clearly part of a greater force of suppression of women.  If there was ever a clear and important womens issue, it is that we must have the right to do with our bodies what was naturally built into us to do.  Our society does not look at other mammals' reproductive functions as disgusting -  a new mother cat nursing her kittens is cute - an image that we'd see in a childrens book.  National Geographic shows dolphins giving birth as a miraculous and beautiful thing.  You get the idea...something has gone wrong in our culture.

The obvious issues here need not to be repeated over and over any more.  What is obvious is that a paradigm shift must happen  - soon.  And it will not shift until people shift it.  So, I'm calling on you all to do whatever you can within your world to add to the power of making this much needed change.   For ourselves, for the children - for the future.

Peace,

Salem

Please forward this press release today...

ACLU of Texas, Lubbock Chapter, Birth Without Boundaries, International sponsor Nurse-In in response to City of Lubbock Censorship of Lahib Jaddo artwork.
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  January 2, 2008, Lubbock, TX:
Lubbock Nurse-In
Sponsored by:  The Lubbock Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union
      Birth Without Boundaries, International
Further Assistance provided by:
      Mothers Acting Up
      Dr. Gary Miracle and Tobyn Leigh
Place: Buddy Holly Center
      1801 Avenue H
      Lubbock, TX 79401
Date: Friday, January 4, 2008
Time: 5:45 pm
The ACLU of Texas, Lubbock Chapter, was and is greatly disturbed by the recent action to censor certain sketches designated for exhibit at the Buddy Holly Center.
The ACLU is opposed to censorship in all its forms, and believes that the right to choose what we see, hear, and read is one of our most vital freedoms.
But more importantly, we have heard the outcry in our community regarding the logic, or rather illogic, of censoring the sketch of a nursing mother and child, and the message such censorship sends to our community.
As you know, Scott Snider, a member of the City Manager's Office for the City of Lubbock, decided that artwork depicting a nursing baby was unacceptable for display at the Buddy Holly Center during the First Friday Art Trail, because he deemed it inappropriate for a general viewing audience without actually viewing the art. It's interesting that U.S. federal law protects nursing on all federal grounds, and Texas law explicitly protects the right of a nursing mother to nurse anywhere she has a right to be, which makes a clear case that neither federal law nor Texas law consider breastfeeding to be an act that is "inappropriate for a general viewing audience." Mothers are free to breastfeed in offices, parks, libraries, amusement parks, churches, and everywhere else, where they are likely to be seen by a much wider "general viewing audience" than the Buddy Holly Center, and that is supported by federal and state law. Yet Mr. Snider seems to feel that federal and state law are not a good standard for what is or is not acceptable viewing. 
 
By portraying breastfeeding as "inappropriate," Mr. Snider - and by extension, the City of Lubbock government, of which he is a representative - is continuing to propagate the myth that breastfeeding is something dirty or sexual, something that needs to be hidden. Health departments all over North America are fighting against this myth, and it continues to play a role in the abysmally low breastfeeding rates. Formula-feeding increases risk of death from sudden infant death syndrome, certain types of childhood cancers, necrotizing enterocolitis, allergies, asthma, diabetes and obesity later in life, and many more ailments. 500 babies a year in North America die as a direct result of being formula-fed. Promoting the myth of breastfeeding being indecent has serious ramifications for the most vulnerable members of our society. 
 
When a woman being asked to nurse in a Starbucks bathroom in Ohio becomes national news, I have no doubt that as large a city as Lubbock censoring artwork depicting breastfeeding, and the attendant fall-out would also become national news. I don't think that being portrayed as anti-family is the kind of exposure the City wants, and I don't want to have to portray the City of Lubbock that way either. But as things stand currently, the policy set in place by Mr. Snider and the City of Lubbock government is decidedly anti-breastfeeding and thus anti-family. 
 
We recognized that the City officials were without a clear guide (other than numerous Supreme Court opinions) in place and they were liable to make mistakes and, of necessity, proceeded based on their own best judgment. Mr. Snider's judgment was off in this case and it turned this matter into an issue, creating a problem where none existed. We are humans and therefore we occasionally make errors, and in fact, Mr. Snider, and those in City government who had supported his decision, obviously were not working from a clear guideline. 
 
Now that this issue exists, it has come to our attention that mothers throughout the community have been discriminated against and made to fell as second-class citizens for doing what is best for their children, breastfeeding. A clarification that breastfeeding pictures are not indecent or inappropriate, would be greatly appreciated. Although the State law may be on our side, public sentiment is not. We hope to change that, and perhaps bring attention to a law that has more bark than bite.
 
In summation, I'd like to point out that neither federal nor state law considers breastfeeding an obscene activity or something that needs to be shielded from children or the workplace; The City of Lubbock would be hard-pressed to find a better arbiter of decency than the law itself. If the laws protect the right of a mother to breastfeed in a public park a few feet away from children, I fail to see how a sketch of a breastfeeding baby is a greater risk to a "general viewing audience." If the laws protect the right of a mother to breastfeed sitting at her desk in an open-concept office, I fail to understand how a sketch presents a risk to those viewing at work. If we are to rate artwork as acceptable based on a standard of if they will offend a small segment of people, then I suspect a vast majority of artwork would have to be deemed unacceptable. 

To that end, at 5:45 p.m. Friday, January 4, 2008, in cooperation with the Lubbock Chapter of the ACLU, Birth Without Boundaries Int'l., financial support of Dr. Gary Miracle and Tobyn Leigh, and the moral support of Mothers Acting Up, a nurse-in will be held in Lubbock, TX. The time has been chosen to allow working mothers (who face unique problems when breastfeeding their children) to participate.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 214-354-2337 or via e-mail at dpmitigation@hotmail.com.
Vince Gonzales
President
Lubbock Chapter of the ACLU