Today, 1,551 little lives will begin with fewer opportunities to be born healthy and have diminished chances of making it to their first birthday because of a decision that these lives do not deserve to be protected.  On this day, 1,551 unborn children will lose access to prenatal care, reversing a long-standing policy of providing prenatal care for low-income unborn children in our state who need our support.

Voices for Children in Nebraska believes this change of course is the wrong decision for Nebraska’s babies and Nebraska’s future.  Prenatal care saves babies’ lives and provides the best opportunity for a healthy childhood from birth.  Women who see a health care provider regularly during pregnancy are more likely to have healthy babies, are less likely to deliver prematurely, and are less likely to have other serious problems related to the pregnancy. Prenatal care matters for a child’s lifetime.

Because we as Nebraskans so value the life that a mother is about to bring into this world, we have always gone to great lengths to ensure that prenatal care is available to women who cannot afford this care without our support.  The goal of ensuring access to prenatal care has always been to monitor the progress of the pregnancy and to identify and treat any problems before they become serious.  Prenatal care has always been about ensuring that babies are born healthy.  To now deny medical care to soon-to-be Nebraska babies using the justification that some mothers do not deserve taxpayer-funded benefits is contradictory to the goal of prenatal care – to ensure babies are born healthy.  Voices for Children in Nebraska challenges us to ask ourselves, who are we hurting when prenatal care is denied?

For more information on the loss of prenatal care for over 1,500 little lives and what you can do, see Voices for Children in Nebraska’s website: 

http://www.voicesforchildren.com/babiesbornhealthy.htm

Tiffany Seibert
Policy Coordinator
Voices for Children in Nebraska

tseibert@voicesforchildren.com
(402) 597-3100 Ext. 109

Welcome back to our Babies Born Healthy blog!  We’re here to generate discussion about the importance of prenatal care and how something so simple as prenatal care matters for a lifetime.

If you have ever been pregnant, it’s hard to forget those first few days after you realize it’s really happening.  You’re excited, you’re scared, you’re trying to decide who to tell and when, and you begin to realize the awesome responsibility you have to care for and protect the baby you are about to bring into this world.

Chances are that you probably first learned of your pregnancy with a home test, and then scheduled a doctor’s appointment to get confirmation.  At that appointment, you got your first round of prenatal vitamins, and lots of advice about what to expect and how to cope with the changes that would be happening to your body.  The doctors and nurses were warm and supportive, and you felt like with their help, you were going to be able to make the right choices to ensure that your baby had the best possible start.

Do you remember the appointment when you got to listen to the heartbeat?  The first ultrasound where you tried so hard to see the baby, and when you finally did, it took your breath away?  The wait for the standard test results to see if everything was “normal”?  How about those appointments in the last trimester as you and your doctor tried to predict when and how the baby might finally arrive?

As you began to wrap your head around everything that was coming – and everything that was changing – with the impending birth, do you remember what a comfort it was knowing your doctor was looking out for you, and when the big moment arrived, that same doctor would be there to deliver that precious bundle?

Now imagine that same nine months without access to those doctors and nurses.  Imagine having to rely on friends or “common knowledge” to help you understand what was happening to you, and what to expect.  Imagine not hearing that heartbeat, or carrying around that ultrasound in anticipation of that new life that would soon arrive.

Our goal at Babies Born Healthy is to raise awareness and generate discussion about the importance of prenatal care, the issues that women and their babies face without access to prenatal care, and to work together to find solutions to ensure that all babies in Nebraska have the opportunity to be born healthy.

Every pregnant woman yearns to have a healthy baby, but without access to quality prenatal care, the chances of babies being born too soon and too small are much greater.

How can we find a way to give every baby the same chance at a healthy start?  The discussion starts now.

Photos compliments of Katy Cipolla Photography.

Welcome to our website!  We’ve established this blog site to generate discussion about the importance of prenatal care and the effect prenatal care can have on the health and development of Nebraska’s children.  We invite you to share your thoughts and engage in lively discussion as we explore ways to support the growth and development of our kids.

We would like to thank Nebraska native photographer, Tammy Muecke for allowing us access to her wonderful photos of babies, children, and families.  Photo’s like this one really set the tone for the importance of our cause … Babies Born Healthy.

We invite you to share your photos with us when you post a comment or submit a guest blog.  Or, if you’d rather, just send your photos to photos@babiesbornhealthy.com and we’ll share them for you.

We would also like to thank the many people and organizations that shared their expertise for the creation of the video on this site.  This is a diverse group of Nebraskan individuals and organizations that share one common sense value … Babies Born Healthy.

All statements expressed on this blog are not necessarily reflective of positions held by Voices for Children in Nebraska, guest bloggers, and/or video contributors.

In no particular order:

Dr. Thomas Tonniges, MD, Pediatrician Boys Town

Brian Fahey, Chairman March of Dimes Nebraska Chapter

Magda Peck, PhD, Associate Dean College of Public Health UNMC

Mike Hansen, President & CEO of Columbus Community Hospital

Dr. Ron Klutman, Family Physician

Dr. M. Scott Haswell, MD, OBGYN

Rebecca Rayman, Director, Columbus Health Center

Jim Cunningham, Executive Director of the Nebraska Catholic Bishop’s Conference

Dr. Kristine McVea, Medical Director, One World Community Health Center

Maggie Kalkowski, Director, International Center of the Heartland, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Inc.

Rob Dorton, Esq. – Immigration Attorney/Program Manager, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Inc.

Ann Marie Bowen, President, Nebraskans United for Life

Christy Lopez, Volunteer, Nebraskans United for Life

Ann Anderson Berry, MD, Neonatology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Board Member of the Nebraska March of Dimes

John Cavanaugh, Executive Director, Building Bright Futures

Dick Holland, Chairman, Building Bright Futures