Louisiana Department of Health Changes Midwifery Laws without Community Input

🕯️ What’s Going On with Midwifery in Louisiana?

Why Are Midwifery Laws Changing Without Public Input?

In recent months, there’s been a quiet but serious shift happening in Louisiana—a state where midwifery is already heavily regulated and, frankly, under-respected. Behind closed doors, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) has been making changes to midwifery law and policy without informing the public, without consulting midwives, and without community input.

So the question is:

Why is this okay?

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🛑 The Silence Around Midwifery Reform

Midwifery is one of the oldest healing traditions in the world. And in Louisiana, where birth disparities are among the worst in the country—especially for Black and Indigenous women—you would think that expanding birth options would be a priority.

Instead, what we’re seeing is:

    •    Regulatory decisions made in private

    •    No functioning Midwifery Advisory Board

    •    No notices of public meetings or comment periods

    •    Ongoing restrictions on midwives who work outside the medical model

These actions don’t just violate the principles of transparency. They undermine the constitutional right of bodily autonomy and the ability for families to choose who attends their births.

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❓Why Don’t We Have a Midwifery Advisory Board?

Under Louisiana law (specifically Title 46), there is supposed to be a Midwifery Advisory Council. This body should be composed of experienced midwives who help guide regulation, protect community interests, and ensure the law reflects evidence-based care.

And yet… the advisory board isn’t active.

    •    When was the last time they met?

    •    Who is being appointed—and by whom?

    •    Why are midwives not given a seat at the table when decisions are being made about our work, our clients, and our bodies?

This lack of oversight is dangerous, and it leaves independent midwives vulnerable to shifting policies that may criminalize or restrict culturally appropriate care.

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⚖️ What Does This Mean for CPMs?

Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) are licensed by the state and have completed rigorous clinical and academic training. But instead of being supported, they are often:

    •    Forced to comply with outdated, medically driven protocols

    •    Extremely difficult for practicing in birth centers 

    •    Subject to sudden changes in practice rules, birth settings, and client eligibility

The result? CPMs are being pushed into the same broken system they were trained to provide an alternative to. They are stuck serving the state, not the families.

This is not what midwifery is supposed to be.

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💡 What Could Fix This?

Here are a few policy solutions that could restore integrity, choice, and justice in Louisiana’s midwifery landscape:

    1.    Reinstate and activate the Midwifery Advisory Board

    •    Ensure it includes representation from CPMs, CNMs, and Indigenous midwives

    2.    Pass state legislation recognizing alternative credentialing pathways, including tribal and community-based midwifery like CIMs

    3.    Expand birth center regulations to allow midwives to operate independently

    4.    Protect midwives from criminalization when serving outside the medical model

    5.    Require public notice and hearings for any change to midwifery laws

These are not radical demands—they’re necessary steps toward justice and autonomy in reproductive health care.

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✊🏾 What Can You Do to Support Midwives?

This is where you come in. Whether you’re a parent, birthworker, advocate, or just someone who cares about health freedom—your voice matters.

Here’s how you can help:

    •    Contact your state representative and ask:

“Why is LDH changing midwifery laws without public input?”

    •    Demand that the Midwifery Advisory Board be reinstated and publicly transparent.

    •    Support midwives—especially those who are being left out, like Indigenous midwives, Black midwives, and unlicensed community midwives.

    •    Share this post. Start the conversation.

    •    Show up at meetings when they happen. Submit public comments. Organize.

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🌺 Birth Belongs to the People

Midwifery is not a luxury. It is a human right. It is a community service. And in Louisiana, it is under threat by a system that is trying to repackage it under a medicalized, institutional model—one that does not serve our people.

But we are watching.

We are organizing.

And we are reclaiming the sacred.

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Are you with us?

Sign up for updates, follow local midwifery coalitions, and help protect autonomous, community-rooted birth care in Louisiana.

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Written by Le Creole Midwife | Certified Indigenous Midwife (CIM)

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