Association Secures Significant Changes to Midwife Board Rule

The Medical Association and a coalition of health organizations this week convinced a legislative committee with oversight of state board regulations to make changes to a dangerous proposed regulation by the newly-formed Alabama State Board of Midwifery.  The Midwifery Board was established by law in 2017 to license non-nurse midwives.

The proposed regulation – if adopted by the legislative committee as it was proposed by the Midwifery Board – would have allowed non-nurse midwives to practice pediatrics and procure, store and use drugs, neither of which is allowed by state law. In addition to striking these two provisions from the ASBM’s proposed regulation, the legislative committee also added a requirement that, in the event a woman attempting to give birth at home with a non-nurse midwife transfers to a facility, the non-nurse midwife is required to accompany her client. As well, the legislative committee struck language in the Midwifery Board proposed regulation that would have limited the ASBM’s disciplinary “look back” period to only 18 months. No professional health licensure boards in Alabama have such a limited timeframe for “look back.”

The Medical Association and others in the health coalition had worked with the Midwifery Board for more than six months in an attempt to get the Board to voluntarily bring its proposed regulation into compliance with state law. While the Midwifery Board chose not to accede to the coalition’s requests, the Medical Association supports the changes made to the proposed regulation by the legislative committee this week as being in the best interest of both pregnant women and their babies.

The Midwifery Board meets next week to take up the revisions the legislative committee made to its proposed rule. At that meeting or before the Dec. 4 deadline, the Midwifery Board will have to decide whether to adopt the changes the legislative committee made to its proposed regulation or to start over with the rulemaking process.