News : State of Iowa may finally consider Licensing Certified Professional Midwives

"Some days it seems like God lines everything up, just to remind me that He can, and the last few days have been such an experience," said Bethany Gates, a Certified Professional Midwife through the North American Registry of Midwives, lives and works in Vinton. The Iowa midwives found out on Wednesday that two of their longtime supporters in the Iowa legislature are resurrecting a bill and giving it a "big push" before the end of this year. On Thursday, Gates found out that the bill should make it out of the subcommittee without too much of a hassle. Homebirths have increased 22% from 2019 to 2020, the largest increase nationally since 1990. Gates who has been a midwife for almost 5 years, set up an office in Vinton last year. Gates is closing in on attending her 100th birth which she believes will happen in the next few weeks. 
Gates said, "Midwives are currently unregulated. Usually, that is a good thing, but for us, it's meaning that we are restricted from practicing within our scope in a way that impacts our ability to provide the complete standard of care to clients. For example, we are well within our scope to order ultrasounds and labs, administer anti-hemorrhagic meds, administer Rhogam, run IV fluids, but without a license the places that we can order testing are few and far between."She said that while she is trained and allowed to carry some medications, without a state license, she cannot order them. Because midwives are not mentioned in Iowa law, and there is not a license offered for midwives, in the past have been charged with a felony (practicing medicine without a license). Gates believes that licensure would offer a path for better communication between homebirth midwives and hospital providers. Unfortunately, some midwives are not comfortable sharing records when mothers are transferred to a hospital because there's no guarantee someone won't take that info and use it to investigate them for practicing without a license. She said, "Hospital providers are often not willing to collaborate with us because of a perceived liability. This bill specifically says hospital providers are not liable for poor outcomes associated with home birth transfers even though these are quite rare.""Women benefit from being offered the full scope of care. Families benefit from an increased likelihood of insurance reimbursement when midwives are licensed. Some insurance companies will not cover us because we don't have a state license," she said.Gates believes that licensure has a great potential to bring more midwives to the state, which would be a huge win for Iowa women. Like so many other states, Iowa does not have enough maternity health care providers to meet the need. As of today, there is a subcommittee meeting scheduled for House Study Bill 123, a bill to license Certified Professional Midwives. In this meeting, Rep. Kauffman, Rep. Bloomingdale, Rep. Lundgren, Rep. Mascher, and Rep. Winckler will discuss the bill and decide whether to bring it before the full State Government Committee or to table the bill.
The public is welcome, and encouraged, to attend. Legislators will ask names and if you're there in favor or opposition. If you have been fortunate enough to have used the services of a midwife and would like to support the Iowa Certified Professional Midwives, join them in the Iowa State Capitol Rotunda as the Subcommittee for Midwifery Licensure Bill meets on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 from 5-6:00 p.m.