What is a midwife?

Midwifery is one of the oldest professions in human history, world-wide.  Up until the 1940's, midwives were the primary providers in America.  Traditionally, midwives apprenticed with more experienced, older midwives as they learned how childbirth unfolded in its natural, physiologic process.  These midwives traveled and tended to mothers and babies in their own homes, and their roles were critical as they were often times the only primary care providers in their community.  Their focus was to care for women's physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing.  They did not answer to anyone who knew very little, if anything, about pregnancy and childbirth.  They believed in the sacred ceremony of childbirth.  They held space for women and supported them through every stage.

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So, what happened?

In the 1800s, male physicians began inserting themselves into childbirth.  With very little understanding of the sacredness of childbirth and its physiologic process, they strongly opposed midwife-assisted birth.  They launched campaigns against midwives and heavily promoted their pain relief drugs in relation to childbirth.  Though male physicians still knew very little about childbirth and had very little experience in its process, they routinely attended half of births over the traditional midwives.  Until the 1940s, midwives still attended 75% of births in rural America, and by 1980 they only attended 1.1% of births.  This complete dismantling of midwifery was a result of laws, restrictions, and campaigns (based on lies, deception, and fear mongering) led against the practice.  In 1921, the Shepphard-Tower Infancy and Protection Act became federal law, which essentially gave states the power to outlaw midwifery not associated with medical training.