MIDWIVES' ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON STATE

2024 SAMPLE EMAIL

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Below is some sample text from our 2024 Action Alert. This year's legislative session has ended. Visit here for an Update on our successes!

SAMPLE: Dear MAWS Members & Supporters:

Please contact your state Senator & 2 Representatives ASAP & mobilize your clients to do the same! You can pass along the contact info for your legislators once you have it.

Basically, we are asking them to support our proviso in the House budget which includes grant funding opportunities for new freestanding birth centers! We’ve included sample text below.

We don’t have the fancy software that will do action alerts for you, so please take a few moments to follow the steps below:.
  1. Type in your address here and your 3 WA reps will be listed. Once you know your district #, you can also find their contact info here 
  2. Click individually on your state Senator & 2 Reps to send them an email or give them a call
  3. Use the sample below but feel free to add a few words about how this will make a difference in your district ​

​SAMPLE TEXT you can adapt for your personal message: 

February 22, 2024

Dear legislators:

Thank you so much for your support of access to midwifery care for your constituents! The recently released House budget proposal included a proviso, which was also in the Governor’s budget, for birth center start-up costs, but the Senate budget did not. This proviso directly addresses the lack of access to maternity care across our state. Please help ensure that this proviso ($2,375,000 GFS). is included in the final budget. Read below for more:

In February 2023, the  Washington State Maternal Mortality Review Panel: Maternal Deaths 2017-2020 report was submitted to the legislature, with disheartening news. The panel made three legislative budget recommendations, one of which was an item we had already requested.

“Prioritize access to perinatal care in communities experiencing inequities, disparities, bias, or discrimination as apparent in maternal mortality data. Fund: 
  • Culturally competent care, including community health workforce and value-based payment models that focus more on outcomes than on number of services delivered. 
  • Increased access to out-of-hospital birthing care such as midwifery and doula services (e.g., funding for free-standing birth centers, rate increases for midwives, etc.). 
  • Interpreter services, including services in a wider variety of languages.”

Finally, each pregnant person that chooses a freestanding birth center for labor saves the state money. We implore you to keep Washington at the forefront of high quality healthcare by including this grant funding opportunity in the final budget.

Sincerely,

Your local midwives and consumers of midwifery services
Our Policy Agenda
More Info about our Annual Midwife Lobby Day
Land Acknowledgement 
MAWS acknowledges that we live and work on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Salish tribes and pay our respects to all of the ancestral homelands and traditional territories of Indigenous peoples who have been here since time immemorial. We recognize that this land touches on the shared waters of tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. We recognize we are grateful to be guests in these lands and commit to show solidarity for the continued fight for Indigenous sovereignty. ​
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • ABOUT
    • Mission, Vision, Values
    • Board of Directors
    • Contact Us
  • WHAT WE DO
    • Advocacy/Midwife Lobby Day >
      • Annual Midwife Lobby Day >
        • Information for Participants
        • Information for Legislators 2025
        • Reports from Past Years >
          • MAWS Policy Achievements 2022 & Rx Authority Update
      • Initiatives and Programs
    • Continuing Education >
      • 2021 Webinar Series
      • Past Years
    • Quality Management Program & Incident Review
    • Provider Directory
  • RESOURCES
    • Health Access Resources
    • COVID-19 Response
    • Scholarly Articles
    • For Midwives >
      • Clinical Guidelines
      • Position Statements
      • Quality Management Program
      • Data Collection
      • Smooth Transitions
      • License Extensions
      • Partners
    • For Families
    • For Aspiring Midwives
    • For Other Healthcare Professionals
    • About Disparities, Anti-Oppression, and Anti-Racism
    • Gun Violence Justice
  • JOIN US
    • Get Involved
    • Donate
  • FIND A MIDWIFE
  • STORE