The National Alliance for Traditional Birth Rights (NATBR) affirms that families possess a fundamental right to make informed decisions regarding pregnancy, birth, and newborn care, including the right to choose traditional midwifery and community-based birth options.

For more than two centuries, traditional midwives have served American communities including Amish, Mennonite, Indigenous, Black, Appalachian, immigrant, rural, and religious populations. These were not fringe providers. They were the backbone of maternal care in the United States.

Traditional midwifery represents one of the nation’s oldest continuous models of healthcare delivery.

Over the last several decades, hospital consolidation, insurance dominance, and regulatory expansion have transformed maternity care into a monopolized system.

Despite record healthcare spending, maternal mortality, cesarean rates, and maternal mental health crises continue to rise. Informed consent has been weakened by institutional protocols, liability pressure, and coercive practices that restrict meaningful patient choice.

At the same time, traditional and community-based midwives have faced increasing criminalization and regulatory persecution, often unrelated to patient harm or clinical outcomes. Enforcement actions based solely on licensure status rather than demonstrated negligence have removed trusted providers from their communities and contributed to the growth of maternity care deserts.

NATBR rejects the notion that families must surrender autonomy, religious freedom, or informed consent in order to comply with institutional policy or fear of regulatory authority.

A pluralistic maternity care system is essential to public health.

Hospitals, physicians, nurse-midwives, direct entry midwives, and traditional midwives each serve distinct and necessary roles.

No single model should hold exclusive authority over childbirth.

The National Alliance for Traditional Birth Rights affirms the following principles:

Informed consent is a civil and human right in maternity care.

Families must retain the freedom to choose how and where they give birth, consistent with their values, beliefs, and medical circumstances.

Traditional midwifery is a National Heritage, a protected cultural and historical practice that must not be eliminated through regulatory monopoly.

Criminal prosecution based solely on licensure status violates principles of justice and proportionality when no evidence of patient harm exists.

Healthcare pluralism strengthens maternal and neonatal outcomes by preserving multiple lawful models of care.

States should enact Birth Freedom protections to restore informed consent, protect traditional midwifery, and prevent the monopolization of maternity care.

Federal agencies should recognize traditional midwifery as a legitimate community-based health practice and ensure that enforcement actions do not infringe upon constitutional rights of families and providers.

NATBR exists to defend birth freedom, preserve traditional midwifery, and restore informed consent and choice in maternity care for present and future generations of American families.