Midwifery returns to Illinois
Certified nurse midwife Danielle Kraessig meets with patient Yakini Branch at the PCC South Family Health Center Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, in Berwyn, Ill. The clinic may receive a permit to operate the first birth center in Illinois as soon as Feb. 5, 2013. Midwives and other supporters of birth alternatives for Illinois women with low-risk pregnancies have been working for years to provide such centers, which are already available in 37 other states. AP Photo/M. Spencer Green
Starting in the mid 1960s, over the span of a few decades in Illinois, dozens of traditional midwives were subjected to legal action or cease and desist orders and fines for practicing midwifery. Midwifery was pushed underground, and more than a dozen midwives have been subject to professional sanctions by state government — after practicing in the shadows, supervising home births. Beginning in 2022, a bill signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker will reverse decades of policy against CPM’s or Certified Professional Midwives, restoring licensure for them and again making it legal to practice.
GUESTS:
Star August
Midwife and Co-Founder and CEO of Holistic Birth Collective
Callan Jaress
Co-founder at Holistic Birth Collective
Re-legalizing traditional midwifery in Illinois could very well prove a tool to stem the tide of Black maternal mortality. But midwives say to be truly effective, it has to be covered by Medicaid too. From @CKubzansky: https://t.co/QlLAdu4JIX
— Hannah Meisel (@hannahmeisel) November 10, 2021
Prepared for web by Owen Henderson
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