Mothers for Mothers Association

Advocacy NGO for mothers’ rights and child safety

Based in Bucharest, Romania

OUR MISSION

Mothers for Mothers NGO has proven itself as one the most active and prestigious Romanian organization for the protection and promotion of women’s rights to have education and services for a non-traumatic childbirth and a fulfilling motherhood  experience.

Recently it has committed to protecting children’s rights to immunization and safe parenting choices in health issues and child-rearing practices.

It represents the interests of pregnant women, children and mothers’ rights in relation with the Government and other international institutions.

AFFILIATIONS

Mothers for Mothers NGO serves as an official representative of ENCA (European Network of Childbirth Associations).

We have also been invited to join Make Mothers Matter, an international, apolitical and non-denominational NGO that benefits from a General Consultative Status at the United Nations and whose role is to raise the awareness of society, policy makers and public opinion about the vital role of mothers for promoting peace and on their contribution to social and economic progress. 

Moreover, our association is the proud recipient of an additional mark of credibility and prestige – The High Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Ann of Romania for services that forward the progress of women in Romania.

OBJECTIVES

The NGO’s objectives have a wide scope covering every need of women during pregnancy, birth and childcare. All our objectives are grounded in a firm committment to forward and support public policies that are in line with upholding fundamental human rights and sound scientific facts. A brief description of the objectives and achievements is described bellow:
 
• Advocacy for women’s right to have a medically safe, dignified experience during childbirth birth irrespective of their choice/ need for a certain birthing method
 
• Advocacy for medically-sound, unbiased and updated education for parents-to-be and new parents

• Advocacy for sound health and lifestyle choices for parents such normal childbirth (when medically safe), exclusive breastfeeding (according to WHO parameters) and immunization against preventable diseases.

HISTORY

Mothers for Mothers NGO was created in 2010 specifically to put on the public agenda in Romania topics such as women’s right to a safe and dignified childbirth experience, the empowerment of certified midwives as primary care givers during pregnancy and childbirth and normalizing breastfeeding.
 
By tackling these topics, we voiced the needs and concerns of a growing number of urban women who had gone through unsafe and humiliating experiences during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care because of subpar medical services (either due to lack of updated protocols or to disregard for patient rights). These mothers asked for better care during normal in-hospital childbirth, the legalizing of midwife-led out-of-hospital childbirth, limiting the se of episiotomy during vaginal childbirth, introducing skin-to-skin bonding time between mother and newborn after childbirth and improved support for breastfeeding.
 
All these topics are rooted in evidence-based medicine as being beneficial for maternal and neonatal outcomes and have been integrated in medical protocols, practices and health policies all over the European Union.

CHALLENGE

However, an alarming new trend hijacked the physiological birth movement in Romania: the anti-medication and anti-vaccination trend. Preying upon the fears of well-meaning parents who had been disappointed by outdated medical protocols and disregard for patient rights during childbirth, the anti-medication propaganda turned some of them into undiscriminating opponents of evidence-based medical care and of science as such.

This unfortunate turn of events presented our organization with a new challenge: to try and protect and educate parents about harmful misinformation of the anti-medication propaganda.
 
We set to do this by using our insights into the psyche of urban, well-to-do parents who had been our core supporters and some of who had unfortunately become antivaxxers, as well as using the expertise medical professionals had on explaining the complicated science of immunization to the lay public. Therefore, we set to educate parents about evidence-based medical practices, about reading statistical data correctly, about discerning between manipulative campaigns and trustworthy, accountable healthcare advice and about understanding the common responsibility we have for ensuring and protecting public health.

CAUSES CHAMPIONED BY OUR ORGANIZATIONS

• Safe & dignified childbirth care by revising Medical Guides, in collaboration with NFPA, United Nations

  • Social protection & Public promotion of breastfeeding and support for the International Code for Breastmilk substitutes Bill, in collaboration with UNICEF

  • Social support & financial protection for parenthood

• Father’s right to provide in-patient care for hospitalized children

• Awareness about harms of alcohol consumption during pregnancy in collaboration with the National Institute for Public Health

•  Promotion of immunization of children according to the National Plan and wide support for the Imunization Bill

  • Spearheading the no-indoor smoking bill for which the organization was honoured by the Embassy of USA

• Fight for ending abuse of and violence against children

• Fight for ending abuse of and violence against women

• Support for comprehensive reproductive health education for children and teens in school

CONTACT:

Asociatia Mame pentru Mame

office@mamepentrumame.ro

www.mamepentrumame.ro

+40 745 910 207

Partajati articolul

Tweet