Posted on Mon, Nov. 12, 2007

Group pushes to legalize midwifery in N.C.

KAREN GARLOCH

Damaris Pittman is a licensed midwife in South Carolina, where she helps women deliver babies in their homes about twice a month.

Because she lives in Charlotte, Pittman would also like to work in North Carolina. But she can't because midwives who aren't nurses and who don't work under the supervision of doctors are illegal in this state.

She and other certified professional midwives, as well as women who want their babies delivered by midwives, are hoping to change that law.

To raise money for their cause, they're offering two Charlotte showings this week of a new documentary about childbirth.

"The Business of Being Born," by executive producer Ricki Lake and director Abby Epstein, interlaces personal birth stories with historical, political and scientific details about maternity care.

It will be shown Wednesday at Ballantyne Village Theater (already sold out) and Thursday at UNC Charlotte.

Pittman will moderate panel discussions after both showings. Speakers will include Dr. Henry Dorn, a High Point obstetrician; two nurse midwives, Marcia Chiluck of Huntersville and Bobbi Kimsey of Hickory; a second non-nurse midwife, Stephanie Tursi of Rock Hill; Christine Strothers, a Charlotte nurse training to become a midwife; and two women who gave birth to babies both in hospitals and at home -- Jen Kitchton of Fort Mill, and Wendi Francis of Tega Cay.

Money raised from the sneak previews will go to N.C. Friends of Midwives, an organization of midwifery advocates. The group plans to lobby legislators to pass a law making it legal for certified professional midwives (who may not be nurses) to practice in North Carolina, just as they can in all the contiguous states -- South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

Lay midwives presided over home births in North Carolina without interference until 1983, when legislators outlawed the practice. State law now permits only nurse midwives who work under the supervision of physicians.

One of the concerns is that lay midwives do not have the medical training to handle a life-threatening emergency.

But Pittman said midwives generally handle low-risk pregnancies. "And studies have shown home births with a midwife to be as safe for low-risk women as a hospital delivery."

Nurse midwives practice almost exclusively in hospitals. But that doesn't mean home births have stopped.

"There are (non-nurse) midwives all over the state that practice illegally," Pittman said.

Sometimes they get arrested. In 1998, Yadkin County midwife Amy Medwin was charged with practicing midwifery without a license. Her case was dropped when the mother who complained declined to testify against her. Medwin is now licensed in Virginia.

Pittman, who is not a nurse, has been licensed in South Carolina for 14 years. She has delivered more than 300 babies, most of them at home.

"It's a women's rights issue," she said. "It's about women having this choice about where and with whom they give birth."

SNEAK PREVIEW

• "The Business of Being Born"

• Thursday, 7 p.m., UNC Charlotte, College of Education, Room 65. Seating limited to 100, first-come, first-served.

• Free. Donations for N.C. Friends of Midwives, www.ncfom.org.

• Details: 704-542-9656.