Pennsylvania

I'm not feeling real good about Pennsylvania this morning (even though we know some great people that live there). First, I've heard that it's difficult to homeschool there - I've never had the need to read up on the law myself, so I don't really know firsthand, but from what I hear it is one of the most rigid places to homeschool (lots of testing and requirements and oversight).

And then just this morning I came across a website that is working to save homebirth in Pennsylvania. The state has ordered a homebirth midwife to “cease and desist from the practice of medicine and midwifery.” Folks think that this is a test case for the state to begin cracking down on all homebirth midwives.

For those of you who don't know, I had Taisim at home, and homebirth is a great option, and one that should be available to everyone.

Here are some facts that I pulled from the PA savehomebirth.com site:

• The U.S. ranks 27th for infant mortality in the industrialized world, below Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
• A newborn is 3 times as likely to die in the U.S. as in Japan.
• Planned homebirths have infant mortality rates equal to Japan's, which are the lowest in the world. (see below)
• Homebirth midwives are specialists in homebirth.
• Certified nurse midwives are not required to attend homebirths as a part of their training.
• The U.S. ranks below 20 other countries in rates of maternal deaths
• Countries in which homebirth attended by midwives is widely available have lower infant mortality rates and lower maternal mortality rates than the U.S.

On the up side, you can get raw dairy without any problems in Pennsylvania...whereas in most states it is illegal to buy raw dairy. Here is Ohio you have to own part of a cow to get raw dairy.