Right now, a bill is sitting in the Senate Health Committee that would give the women of this state more choices for where and with whom they birth their babies. It is called SB 314, and it would license Certified Professional Midwives to attend out of hospital births. 

As of right now, women have the right to birth in their homes, as long as they are not assisted by a midwife. This isn’t safe or acceptable.

The CDC reports that home births are up 18 percent in Alabama, and those women are birthing unassisted or with unregulated midwives. Research shows that planned out-of-hospital births attended by a Certified Professional Midwife are safe for healthy women with low risk pregnancies.   

When I gave birth to my first child in July of last year, I didn’t want a hospital birth. I was forced to drive two hours to Tennessee, while in labor, to birth in a home with a Certified Professional Midwife.  

The people of Alabama are speaking with their actions; where they are choosing to birth says it all. I hope and pray that our legislators will listen, and help make home birth safer for us all.

— Britney Morgan Williams, Ashville