Info

Sidelines is a non-profit organization that provides support, peer counseling, education, resource referrals, and special assistance to women with complicated pregnancies. Each one of our 5,000 volunteers has also experienced a high risk pregnancy and has completed an extensive peer counseling training program. Sidelines has been recognized by numerous civic and humanitarian awards, including commendation by President Clinton. Sidelines was created as a support group, not an advocacy group, and yet our experiences with over 100,000 women and families have led us to take certain positions that some feel is "not our place". We feel it is wrong to hospitalize women 600 miles away from their military base and family because Champus insurance refuses to pay for home healthcare or for a high-risk specialist in their hometown. We feel it is unfair for bedridden expectant mothers to have to appear "in person" at social service agencies to collect benefits. We feel that patients have the right to be informed about the treatments, tests and technologies that they might benefit from, regardless of personal agendas. Our organization is funded by contributions from the healthcare and insurance industries, March of Dimes grants, grants from foundations, individual donations and fundraising events. We request and have received contributions from a number of healthcare companies involved in maternity-related care including HUAM providers. However, we are solely and independently committed to the interests of high-risk mothers. Our opinions and position on prenatal care are based on personal experience and counsel from medical experts. We do not believe that HUAM prevents preterm birth. We believe that it helps physicians detect preterm labor in many high-risk women based on opinions expressed to us by physicians, researchers, and most importantly, the thousands of high-risk women that we have supported. We do not believe that HUAM or any other advancement in prenatal care should be withheld from women out of concerns that physicians who fail to provide higher level care might be sued. Whatever decisions are made about the type and level of prenatal care provided, we advocate that families take a strong, assertive, and informed role in the decision making process. It's your body, your pregnancy, your baby.