Alabama Friends of Midwives was organized in support of the midwives in Alabama, who offer a traditional, safe, and cost-effective childbirth option for Alabama families.

   Alabama Friends of Midwives is a non-profit organization whose members believe that pregnancy and birth are normal events. We approach these events with respect for the right of families to choose the circumstance of their births, respect for midwives as the professionals most capable in attending normal births, and respect for doctors as the professionals most qualified to monitor difficult or surgical births. We support both independent midwives and nurse-midwives in attending births in all settings: home, birth center, and hospital.

   Many Alabama counties have no providers of obsetrical care, and no hospital available in which a woman may deliver her baby. Midwives practicing in Alabama are offering care in both urban and rural areas, and to all socioeconomic groups. The cost of a midwife-assisted birth is significantly less than that of a hospital birth, and numerous scientific studies have shown midwifery and home birth to be at least as safe as physician assisted hospital births for the vast majority of mothers and babies. In addition, many families after careful study prefer to use midwife care.

   It is essential that midwives be free to practice openly and without harassment. It is also essential that the Alabama community recognizes the benefits offered by midwifery care and the services midwives offer to Alabama families.

   In fulfillment of our goals, the Alabama Friends of Midwives are working to:

• Participate in midwifery advocacy on a state and national level
  
  
• Disseminate information to the public that will assist women in making fully informed choices from among a freely available range of attendants, methods and settings in childbirth
  
  
• Advocate for high quality maternity care for all women regardless of income, education and ethnicity
  
  
• Foster communication between midwifery and other health care professionals
  
  
• Increase the number of midwives in Alabama
  
  
• Inform families regarding their birth options
  
  
• Support those who choose midwife assisted births

Page updated - 4 June, 2007