Midwife Connection

By Melissa Garvey, ACNM Senior Writer-Editor It’s hard to imagine a time when the midwifery community isn’t brimming with action and forward momentum. Even so, I feel compelled to stop and savor what is turning out to be a particularly momentous spring for ACNM and the broader midwifery community. Midwives received significant air time last week leading up to Mother’s Day. ACNM member Patricia Loftman, CNM, told the world she was a midwife on the May 8 episode of Wheel of Fortune (she also ...

By Kathryn Kravetz Carr, CNM, Chair, ACNM Government Affairs Committee May is a big month for midwives! ACNM Virtual Lobby Week is coming up next week, May 13 – 17, right on the heels of International Day of the Midwife (May 5) and Mother’s Day (May 12). This year, ACNM and the Government Affairs Committee are rallying midwives to support the Moms for the 21st Century bill (scheduled to be re-introduced to Congress on May 21) and the Quality Care for Moms and Babies bill (S. 1969 / H.R...

By Melanie Furrer, SNM, BSN, RN, ACNM Government Relations Intern Let’s start out with a little introduction. I’m Melanie: RN first, and graduate student second. I’m at Johns Hopkins University pursuing my master’s in public health nursing and nurse-midwifery. In three semesters, one month and 5 days (but who’s counting?) I and my diploma will be ready to sit the boards to become a CNM! Though my final goal seems far away as I suffocate under hundreds of pages of reading in my 50lb pathoph...

by Lorrie Kline Kaplan, ACNM Chief Executive Officer After several months of planning and much hard work, ACNM together with our friends at the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) held a briefing yesterday on Capitol Hill –and it was nothing short of a success! It was our privilege to share the good news and policy implications of the landmark, large-scale study published last week in ACNM’s Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, titled “Outcomes of Care in Birth Centers: Demonstratio...

by Emily Hoger, SNM The practice of midwifery is inherently political. As midwives, we have many constraints on our time, but it is vitally important that we become and remain informed and active in the politics of our profession. Political activism for the advancement of midwifery is just as important as clinical skills and knowledge. We have made much progress as a profession, but must continue to remain actively involved so we can shape the future of midwifery, broaden our scope, and achieve...