Pushing for Change: The State of Arizona Should Allow Women Greater Access to Midwifery Care
Leia Dingott. The evidence in support of homebirths continues to pile up, and yet many states, including Arizona, continue to be influenced by the powerful lobby rather than by the facts and interests of the primary stakeholders, mothers, and babies. Maternal health in the United States is in a state of crisis with 437 woman dying annually (13 deaths per 100,000 births) from childbirth or complications from childbirth. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that half of these deaths are preventable. Recently, there has been a grassroots movement among woman to find direct entry midwives and birth at home. But there has been push-back from the medical community and state legislatures. The medical community claims that hospitals are the safest place to give birth, yet these numbers come from hospital…