SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - State Rep. Robyn Gabel is making her second attempt in a year to legalize certified professional midwives in Illinois, which criminalized the practice in 1987.
The proposal is staunchly opposed by some doctors, who say babies should be born only in hospitals.
Gabel's Home Birth Safety Act proposal would license certified professional midwives and standardize training. Illinois stopped issuing licenses to midwives in 1963.
Leaders at the Coalition of Illinois Midwives say licensure would also allow low-income women to hire midwives, which could lower the state's Medicaid costs.
Doctors say at-home births include possible risks such as postpartum hemorrhaging and the need for resuscitation.
But midwives say they would work closely with doctors, much like is done in the nearly 30 states where midwifery is legal.
