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North Carolina Nurse-Midwives PAC

The North Carolina Affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (NCACNM) is committed to providing safe, high-quality, satisfying, sexual and reproductive health care to the people we serve. Decades of research proves that increasing access to midwifery care is essential to improving the health of North Carolinians.

Certified nurse-midwives have been licensed and practicing in North Carolina for over 30 years. We practice in hospitals, health clinics, birth centers and homes across the state. Certified nurse-midwives are advanced-practice registered nurses who earn Master’s or Doctoral degrees and have achieved certification by the American Midwifery Certification Board.

We have been working with leaders in medicine, nursing, public health, and the General Assembly to further integrate the practice of nurse-midwifery in our health care system and modernize our state practice act. One of the barriers to midwifery care in North Carolina is the archaic and unnecessary requirement of physician supervision. This requirement doesn’t ensure safety and it decreases access to care. And that compromises health outcomes for mothers and babies and increases health costs.

When 31 of 100 North Carolina counties have no perinatal care providers, we spend more than any other country on health care and have infant and maternal mortality rates that are among the worst in the industrialized world, limiting access to expert maternity care providers isn’t a solution. We face a maternal health crisis and a provider shortage and studies have shown that midwifery care decreases rates of low birth weight infants, neonatal and infant mortality, cesarean section, and medical interventions. Midwifery care has been proven to increase vaginal birth rates, breastfeeding rates and patient satisfaction.

Experts agree.

The American College of Obstetricians-Gynecologists, in a joint statement with the American College of Nurse-Midwives has stated and reaffirmed in 2018 that, “Ob-gyns and certified nurse-midwives are experts in their respective fields of practice and are educated, trained, and licensed, independent providers who may collaborate with each other based on the needs of their patients.”

Additionally, the Institute of Medicine has found access to care from certified nurse-midwives has improved primary health care services for women in rural and inner-city areas and recommends removing scope-of-practice barriers such as requirement of physician supervision and allowing certified nurse-midwives to practice to the full extent of their education and training.

A group of North Carolina state legislators studied the flexibility of midwifery practice without physician supervision in the 2013-14 Legislative Session. The study recommended the decades-old requirement of physician supervision places unnecessary restrictions on nurse-midwives’ practice and results in well-qualified CNMs leaving North Carolina to practice in other less restrictive states. The lawmakers recommended an update and modernization of the Midwifery Practice Act which will allow greater flexibility for certified nurse-midwives in their practice, greater access to midwifery care, and better health outcomes for North Carolinians across the state. We continue to pursue a legislative solution to retire this outdated and overly restrictive barrier to care.  Please join us as we work toward access to the best health care for all North Carolinians.