The ruling, which upheld a midwife provision passed by the Legislature last year, makes Missouri the 38th state to permit midwifery. The development left home-birth advocates ecstatic and but the doctors' groups showed their disapproval.
The new law will allow people to provide birthing services if they hold "tocological" certification. "Tocology" is the science of obstetrics and midwifery. It will also allow midwives who have earned certification through a nationally accredited organization to practice in the state.
Prior to this law, midwifery was a class C felony and carried a seven-year prison term. The state didn't allow the practice unless the midwives were certified nurse-midwives registered nurses who worked with a doctor. The exception was the certified nurse-midwives who usually deliver babies in hospitals. However, they could conduct home deliveries with consent a doctor.
The lawsuit was brought by four groups that demanded midwives to be regulated by the Missouri Board of Healing Arts, a governing body of physicians. The groups include the Missouri State Medical Association, Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, the Missouri Academy of Family Physicians and the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society.
