Nebraska Won’t Let You Call the Midwife

Kate Ternus wanted to deliver her second baby at home, as she had her first. But since she had moved from South Dakota to Nebraska between pregnancies, she had to drive 90 minutes north across state lines, where a certified nurse midwife, or CNM, met her and assisted with the delivery of her son.

That may seem like an unusually long trek for a “home” birth. And it is: Nebraska is the only state in the country that doesn’t allow CNMs to attend births in homes, despite midwives’ special training for delivery outside hospitals. Instead, the state’s CNMs must operate under physician supervision, which in effect means in hospitals only. Women who either can’t access an institution with midwives—not a rarity in a largely rural state—or want to give birth outside a medical setting are left without good options: the dangers of unassisted birth or the risks of travel across state lines. 

The ban on midwives attending home births restricts pregnant women’s ability to access the safest medical care that suits their needs and beliefs. It should be reversed.