Elephant Circle
Denver, CO
Elephant Circle brings an intersectional, feminist, reproductive justice, design thinking approach to birth justice.
Grant Amount
$78,000
Grantee Since
2013
Key Issues
- Birth Justice
- Racial Justice
- Reproductive Justice
Website
Colorado passes historic Birth Equity Package
Birth Justice Fund grantee Elephant Circle gave us a momentous victory this year when Colorado passed the landmark Birth Equity Bill Package.
These bills enhance human rights protections during childbirth, increase Medicaid coverage from 2 months to one year postpartum, support equity in data and systems, and continue Colorado’s Direct-Entry Midwifery program so that midwifery care is more accessible and integrated into the medical system.
Image courtesy of Elephant Circle
Another key element to this victory was that families with lived experience were in every meeting to determine what went into the package. For example, when lobbyists were pushing to remove a provision that allows birthing people to room in with their newborns, Elephant Circle brought in a mother who almost died in childbirth and whose baby was taken to the NICU to speak about the harm experienced by families when hospitals routinely separate them from their newborns during a vulnerable time.
As a result, the Birth Equity Bill Package now protects the rights of parents and the rights of babies to stay together when they are in Colorado hospitals.