ACNM Responds to Lancet Home Birth Editorial

by Holly Powell Kennedy, CNM, PhD, FACNM, FAAN,President, American College of Nurse-MidwivesOn the heels of a disturbing AJOG study on home birth, an editorial released today in The Lancet is fanning the flames of the home birth controversy that has been playing out in the media this summer. This morning I talked with an NPR reporter about ACNM’s take on the editorial. View her blog here, and

Saturday Night at the Movies: One Night, Three Films!

by Melissa Garvey, ACNM Writer and EditorBack by popular demand, ACNM’s former Tuesday Night at the Movies is moving up to prime time on Saturday, June 12, 8- 10:30pm. Feel free to invite your friends, colleagues, and clients to this FREE film festival featuring birth and pregnancy-related movies. This year, we’ll be showing:Natural Born Babies: A Modern Birth StoryTold by 10 mothers, this short

The Evidence is In: Texting Helps Teen Moms

by Melissa Garvey, ACNM Writer and EditorIn February, ACNM signed on as an outreach partner with Text4Baby and I posed the question, “Do you expect Text4Baby to make a meaningful difference in the lives of women and their babies?” I found the answer this week on MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. Watch the clip below for an inside look at how Text4Baby is, without a doubt, making a difference.MTV ShowsText “

Time Out for Good News

by Melissa Garvey, ACNM Writer and EditorIt’s a busy week at ACNM. We’re getting ready to open registration for our Annual Meeting and staying on top of a flurry of midwifery advocacy. In the midst of the activity, it’s been especially gratifying to see a hefty amount of positive press about midwives pop up in my inbox each morning. It feels great to have a chance to pause and revel in interviews

Mad Men and Birth, Sixties Style

Sunday night’s episode of Mad Men brought 60s-style birth to prime time TV. The moment that mother/wife Betty matter-of-factly proclaimed “It’s time,” birth activists across America probably sat poised on the edge of their couches anxious to see how the show would portray this birth. Contrary to typical television births, Betty and father/husband Don calmly proceeded to the hospital—no rush, no

Dear Today

This afternoon, ACNM sent this letter in response to The Today Show segment “The Perils of Midwifery” (later renamed “The Perils of Home Births” online). We encourage midwives and their supporters to send their letters to TODAY@nbcuni.com and to adapt ACNM's letter for their own use to share with coworkers and clients. Thank you to the many ACNM members who have already sent letters in support of

The Non-perils of Midwifery

Earlier, the Today Show aired a sad, unfortunate piece called “Perils of Midwifery.” (They later updated the Web segment title to "Perils of Home Births.") Not only does it follow the heart-breaking account of a birth gone horribly wrong; it exploits the couple’s tragedy—turning it into a sensationalized story that scares women and grossly misrepresents midwifery.The safety of midwife-attended

Why Midwives Need to be on YouTube

According to this morning’s New York Times, there’s a new childbirth educator on the loose—YouTube. On the same Web site that broadcasts cute kittens, teenage pranks, and music videos, women are perusing for footage of real, unedited birth experiences.In the article, professor Eugene Declercq of Boston University gives an interesting explanation as to what may be behind this emerging trend. He