The Final Frontier: Why We Must Protect Midwifery Before It’s Too Late
- Anne Wallen, Director of MWI
- Oct 10
- 4 min read
It is vital to understand that midwifery is the final frontier for women’s rights. Without midwifery, we lose essential front-line workers for every kind of women’s healthcare, and we throw away any hope of bodily autonomy rights and protections in a world where female bodies continue to be increasingly regulated.
Across the country—and more and more, across the world—the number of practicing midwives is in alarming decline. Not because women no longer want this care, but because midwives are being pushed out, regulated out, and worn out by a system that favors control over compassion. What was once a sacred calling has become a bureaucratic battlefield, and at stake are not just professional livelihoods but the safety and sovereignty of every birthing person.
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The Disappearing Midwife
Midwives are more than birth attendants. They are educators, advocates, and guardians of physiological birth. They protect not only the safety of mothers and babies, but also the integrity of the birth experience itself. Yet, in many states, restrictive legislation, excessive licensing fees, and the overreach of medical institutions are making it nearly impossible for midwives to practice freely and safely.
When hospitals monopolize birth and governments regulate midwifery out of reach, we lose access to the people who know how to listen to women’s bodies. We lose choice. We lose safety. And we lose the continuity of care that has historically saved lives—especially in rural, low-income, and minority communities where maternal mortality rates are highest.
“Midwives are the backbone of safe and respectful maternity care,” states the World Health Organization (2021). “When they are educated, licensed, and supported, they can meet about 90% of the essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health needs across communities.”
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Why the Restrictions Hurt Everyone
The narrative often used to justify increasing restrictions on midwifery is “safety.” But data tell a different story. Countries with strong midwifery systems—like the Netherlands, the U.K., and New Zealand—have lower rates of maternal and neonatal death, fewer unnecessary interventions, and higher satisfaction among birthing families.
In contrast, the United States—where midwives attend less than 10% of births and face legal barriers in many states—continues to rank among the most dangerous high-income nations in which to give birth. Restricting midwives does not make birth safer; it makes it riskier, costlier, and more traumatic.
As the Lancet Midwifery Series (2014) concluded: “Midwifery, when provided by well-educated, regulated, and integrated professionals, could prevent over 80% of maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths worldwide.”
“The evidence is clear,” the report adds. “Where midwives are empowered and autonomous, outcomes improve—not just for mothers and babies, but for entire health systems.”
I would like to challenge the notion of regulation - who is the appropriate regulatory body? It MUST be other midwives, WOMEN who understand the safety in home birth, who trust the physiology of both mother and baby. Midwifery cannot be regulated by a patriarchal system that is already failing us at every turn.
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The Ripple Effect on Women’s Rights
When we silence midwives, we silence the women they serve. The erosion of midwifery care isn’t just a healthcare issue—it’s a human rights issue. Without midwives, women lose one of their last remaining allies in the medical system: professionals who prioritize informed consent, respect physiological birth, and stand guard against coercion and unnecessary intervention.
Every restriction placed on a midwife is a restriction placed on a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body. Every license revoked, every birth center closed, and every piece of red tape tightened is a blow to reproductive justice.
“Birth is not a pathology to be managed—it is a physiological process that deserves trust, education, and protection,” writes Anne Wallen, founder of MaternityWise.com. “When midwives are restricted, women are forced into systems that often prioritize liability over humanity.”
Find more about the Bill of Rights for Women and Midwives here:
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Protecting the Future of Birth
If we want to reverse this trend, we must start by honoring midwives as the essential healthcare providers they are. That means investing in midwifery education, removing unnecessary legal barriers, and integrating midwives into mainstream maternal health systems—without erasing their autonomy or unique model of care.
We must also educate families. Expectant parents deserve to know that they have options, that birth is not an illness, and that having a midwife is not an act of rebellion—it is an act of wisdom.
The WHO emphasizes that “strengthening midwifery is one of the most cost-effective investments a country can make for improving health and gender equality.”
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A Call to Awareness and Action
Midwifery is not a nostalgic nod to the past; it is the solution for a more humane future. Supporting midwives means supporting mothers. It means lowering maternal mortality, improving mental health outcomes, and protecting the right of every woman to give birth in safety, dignity, and peace.
The time to act is now—before the quiet disappearance of midwives becomes another headline in the story of how we lost control of women’s healthcare altogether.
Go support the PUSH initiative here:
FP2030’s Made Possible campaign celebrates the transformative power of family planning by sharing stories of what access to contraception has made possible in people’s lives. The PUSH Campaign is the global campaign for woman-centred care, advocating for midwives as the way to get us there!
Together, we are launching a joint storytelling campaign to amplify your stories about how midwives make access to family planning possible—and how that access, in turn, transforms the lives of women, girls, and communities. We want to hear from you!
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References:
• World Health Organization. (2021). The State of the World’s Midwifery Report.
• Renfrew, M. J., et al. (2014). The Lancet Series on Midwifery: Transforming Health Systems. The Lancet, 384(9948), 1129–1145.
• Wallen, A. (n.d.). MaternityWise.com: The Future of Perinatal Education.
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What an amazing voice to present this truth to the nation/world. Your blog couldn't be truer
Women need educating before they become pregnant so when they go for their first pregnancy test they are aware midwifery is available and how to access
They need to be taught the questions to ask their current provider so they don't just assume the care they want is available to them
They need to be taught that is pregnancy - not a disease entity that's a time bomb waiting to explode, but a normal natural process that needs to be observed and nurtured for its normalcy. But here you need the midwife to protect this process and hold the family in high esteem celebratin…