Laserfiche WebLink
Imewel <br />A BILL FOR AN ACT <br />RELATING TO LICENSED MIDWIVES. <br />BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII: <br />1 SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Act 32, Session laws of Hawaii 2019, created <br />2 a licensure program to regulate midwives, as HRS 457-J, with the intention to "allow a woman <br />3 to choose where and with whom she gives birth," while providing the benefits of licensure. <br />4 This licensure program has run for five years and will sunset on June 30, 2025. <br />5 The 2019 legislature also found in Act 32 that (1) "mothers and families seek out <br />6 alternatives to hospital births and they find significant value in community or home birth <br />7 services" and that (2) "these services have been provided by individuals identifying themselves <br />8 as traditional or cultural practitioners, midwives, certified professional midwives, lay <br />9 midwives, direct entry midwives, birth keepers, or birth attendants." <br />10 Under HRS 457-J, only certified professional midwives (CPMs) and certified midwives <br />11 (CMs) are eligible for licensure. Act 32 (2019) stated that, "by the end of the three-year period <br />12 (2022), the legislature intends to enact statutes that will incorporate all birth practitioners and <br />13 allow them to practice to the fullest extent under the law." While significant efforts were made, <br />14 this goal has not yet been achieved. A temporary exemption for non-CPM/CM birth attendants <br />15 expired in 2023, which in effect has made nearly all unlicensed birth workers, cultural <br />16 practitioners and extended family attending births illegal, as intended exemptions were shown <br />17 to need further strengthening to be effective. <br />2025-0208 1 <br />