Should Vermont have standalone birthing centers?
WCAX
Should Vermont have birthing centers not affiliated with a hospital? Vermont is just one of eight states that don’t have them. But advocates for changing that gathered at the Statehouse Tuesday to make their voices heard.
“I felt so grateful and so emotional that I was able to have that experience, but knowing that not every woman has access to that -- I felt ready to try to advocate and fight for more birth centers in the U.S.,” said Carolyn Barnwell. The Woodstock woman says she had to travel an hour to New Hampshire to have her baby at a freestanding birthing center.
Advocates say the centers encourage natural births for mothers with low-risk pregnancies. They typically have a few rooms equipped with things like a birthing tub. “You know that you can’t get an epidural, you don’t have a surgeon there. This is you signing up to fully trust your body and allowing it to do what it was made to do,” Barnwell said.