Circle of Midwives

The Circle of Midwives is a beginning at creating a structure and paradigm for midwives as a group to acknowledge our diversity, honor it, and realize we can find out unity as well.

The unity would be based on two points. The first is that every pregnant woman has a right to choose her caregiver when given relevant information with which to make that decision.

Public education about midwifery and individual disclosure of training, experience, statistics, and affiliations could be the basis of informed client choices about caregivers.

The second point of unity is that midwives I've talked to are called to serve. Each has been called to serve in their own way. It is functional for us to practice in different ways. There are so many different people with different beliefs and needs who all have babies! A surplus of mothers and babies will not die if we do not all follow the same calling or guidelines in our service.

Having categories of midwives need not be seen as yet another division between us. It merely acknowledges the diversity which already exists. Perhaps some groups are not highly represented in MANA- yet. Perhaps part of why they are not members of MANA is that is has been increasingly projecting an image of professional midwife as the standard against which we all will be judged. By seriously exploring the possibility of a model like the Circle of Midwives, MANA could acknowledge that there really could be multiple safe and effective modes of belief and practice of midwifery.

Each section of the Circle of Midwives would form its own volition and choice. There would not have to be a specific number of sections- a blank spot is left to indicate the possibility of new forms of midwifery to develop and enter the Circle. The sections I've named are merely possibilities for illustration.

Each section would set up its own standards and core competencies. Each section would have represented on a council which would promote knowledge of and relations between the sections. Statistics from each section could be submitted to illustrate the safety of each section. Effective methods of different sections could be elucidated so those who wished to add them to their repertoire could more easily do so. So far, MANA has begun to do this for the professional midwife only.

We can create a form for acknowledging midwifery knowledge and wisdom of many sorts. MANA can open more fully to all midwives. Customary professional validation is exclusionary and eventually leads to stagnation. Instead, let's empower ourselves as we are and affirm our clients' rights to choose who will serve them.