Who are we?
North Carolina Friends of Midwifery (NCFOM) is a grassroots organization of midwifery advocates dedicated to promoting, supporting, and protecting midwifery in North Carolina. In a nutshell? What we do is work hard to advocate the preservation of midwife-attended births, whether those births are at home or at freestanding birth centers.
Many counties in North Carolina don't offer obstetrical care to residents. That means that the pregnant women are left with neither an OB to assist her, nor a nearby hospital in which to birth her baby!
Enter the midwives! Midwives often provide care where there is no other care available. In North Carolina midwives offer care in urban as well as rural areas and to all socioeconomic groups. Midwives are highly trained and experienced in assisting pregnant and birthing women. Many studies have shown midwifery and homebirth to be at least as safe as doctor assisted birthing in hospitals for the vast majority of mothers and babies.
So what we do is work to ensure that midwives be free to practice openly and without harassment in North Carolina. This starts at a community level, with the recognition of the benefits offered by midwifery care and midwives' services.
