Take Action

Contact Your Legislator

There is currently a proposed bill in the Vermont House Committee on Health Care, H.80: An Act Relating to Licensure of Freestanding Birth Centers, sponsored by Representative Mari Cordes. We need your support to get this bill passed!

Please take a moment to contact your legislator to let them know why you believe that Vermont should have freestanding birth centers.

Below is a list of the Legislators on the House Health Care Committee and a link to their contact information, followed by talking points. Only send e-mails to your legislator. If you are not a constituent of any of the legislators listed below, but know of someone who is and can send an e-mail, please forward this information to them.

House Committee on Healthcare

  • Rep. Lori Houghton, Chair (D), Essex Junction, VT

  • Rep. Francis McFaun, Vice Chair (R), Barre, VT

  • Rep. Alyssa Black, Ranking Member (D), Westford, Essex, VT

  • Rep. Daisy Berbeco (D), Winooski, VT

  • Rep. Brian Cina (P/D), Burlington, VT

  • Rep. Mari Cordes, Clerk (D), Lincoln, VT

  • Rep. Allen "Penny" Demar (R), Enosburg Falls, Montgomery, VT

  • Rep. Bobby Farlice-Rubio (D), Barnet, Ryegate, Waterford, VT

  • Rep. Leslie Goldman (D), Bellow Falls, Brookline, Rockingham, Westminster, VT

  • Rep. Arthur Peterson (R), Clarendon, Wallingford, West Rutland, VT

Don’t see your district above?

You can contact your legislator even if not on the committee. If you are unsure of who your Legislator is, here is a link to find your Representative. Select “by town” and use the drop down list to find your town. Then click “search”. That will bring you to a list  of your Representative(s) and Senator(s).

Talking Points

Below are some suggested talking points, but It would be best for you to write in your own words why Vermont should have a freestanding birth center. E-mails to Legislators should be short and to the point.

Subject line should be “License Birth Centers in Vermont.”

  • Choice of birth setting is a reproductive right. 

  • Only citizens of eight U.S. states do not have the choice of freestanding birth enters - Vermonters and residents of Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Hawaii.

  • Numerous studies have shown that having a baby in a birth center is at least as safe as having a baby in a hospital for low-risk women, with lower c-section rates, lower pre-term birth rates, and lower low weight baby rates.

  • Care by midwives in birth centers is exceptionally affordable to the healthcare system. One study estimated that more than $30 million was saved over 3 years because of the number of women in their study who chose to give birth in birth centers.

  • Birth Centers are recommended to be part of the maternity health care system by the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, as well as by CMS and ACOG/SMFM (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists).

  • Resistance to birth centers in Vermont by hospital business interests has been based on an unfounded and unsubstantiated claim they will threaten the sustainability of hospital units.