The first week of October is National Midwifery Week. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating the many midwives working to promote safe pregnancies, healthy babies and healthy bodies in our state.
Alaska midwives attend births in homes, at birth centers and, for nurse-midwives, in hospitals. In 2022, more than 30% of the babies born in Alaska were welcomed into the world by midwives. That’s roughly three times the national average.
The U.S. is in the midst of a crisis of people dying during pregnancy and childbirth. We are the most dangerous country in the developed world for pregnant people. In fact, Gaza and the West Bank are currently safer places for childbirth than the U.S.! Study after study has confirmed that the safest provider for a low-risk pregnancy is a midwife. One component in addressing our current crisis is increasing the number of midwives and reducing barriers to midwifery practice — barriers like exorbitant malpractice insurance, low reimbursement rates, and hospitals discontinuing their midwifery services in the name of saving money — until every family has the option of choosing a midwife.
Childbirth may be a midwife’s most famous profession, but nurse-midwives also serve our communities by providing sexual and reproductive health care like contraception, STD treatment, reproductive cancer screenings and primary care.
If you know a midwife, please take a moment to thank them for their service to our communities. If you don’t know a midwife, consider seeing one for your next pregnancy, annual wellness visit or when thinking about starting or changing your contraception.
— Joseph “Josey” Piper
Homer
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