Position Statements on Birth Setting and Normal Birth

Planned Births at Home and in Free-standing Birth Centers by Women
under the Primary Maternity Care of Midwives

A number of prominent professional organizations around the world support home births and births in freestanding birth centers for women with uncomplicated pregnancies.

For example, they conclude that "there is no reason why home birth should not be offered to women at low risk of complications and it may confer considerable benefits for them and their families. There is ample evidence showing that laboring at home increases a woman’s likelihood of a birth that is both satisfying and safe, with implications for her health and that of her baby." - The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) 2007

Publications on Birth Setting by US-based institutions:

• Planned Home Birth in New York Position Statement by NYSALM (PDF)
• Position Statement on Midwifery by the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) 2009 (PDF)
• APHA (American Public Health Association) Policy Statement: Increasing Access to Out-of-Hospital Maternity Care Services through State-Regulated and Nationally-Certified Direct-Entry Midwives, 2001. (LINK)
• Choice of Birth Setting Position Paper by the National Perinatal Association, (NPA), 2008 (PDF)
• Home Birth Position Statement by the Midwives Alliance of North America, MANA (LINK)
• ACNM (American College of Nurse Midwives) Position Statement on Home Birth, 2011 (PDF)
• Home Birth Summit Consensus Statements

Additional Position Statements on Birth Setting:

• Home Births (Joint Statement between the UK Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) April 2007 (PDF)
• Birth at Home: New Zealand's Position (PDF)
• Canadian Association of Midwives Position Statement on Home Birth, 2001 (PDF)

Position Statements on Normal Physiologic Birth:

• Supporting Healthy and Normal Physiologic Childbirth Joint Position Statement by ACNM, MANA & NACPM (the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives) (LINK)
• Normal Birth Consensus Statement by the New Zealand College of Midwives (NZCOM) (PDF)
• Midwifery Care and Normal Birth: Position Statement by the Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM) 2010
• Normal Childbirth by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), 2007

Research:

Cochrane Reviews are systematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy, and are internationally recognised as the highest standard in evidence-based health care.

• Cochrane Database Review: Planned hospital birth versus planned home birth Sep 2012
• Cochrane Database Review: Midwife-led versus other models of care for childbearing women, 2009

For more links to primary research, visit our Current Research page.

RELATED LINKS

NACPM’s Standards for Practice (PDF)