Black midwives in the South, a region rife with racial disparities in maternal health access and maternal mortality, are leading lawsuits over state regulations that they say limit their ability to provide care.
Women behind the litigation say midwives can help improve birthing outcomes in Southern states, where maternal mortality rates are higher than the overall U.S. rate, and treat low-risk pregnancies in rural and underserved areas. They turned to the courts, they said, after legislative attempts to widen their scope of practice stalled.
The lawsuits were filed against Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, where state regulations and laws require midwives to have collaborative practice agreements with physicians — some of whom may bristle at working with midwives. Those states also apply regulations to birth centers, where midwives assist labor and delivery for low-risk pregnancies, that are similar to the ones they apply to hospitals.
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