Georgia has some of the strictest midwifery laws in the nation. Certified midwives are trained, ready, and willing to serve. The state will not let them. Moms and babies are paying the price.
A midwife is a trained professional who specializes in pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. They are not a replacement for doctors in emergencies but they are essential for routine pregnancies, especially in communities where no OB doctor or hospital is nearby. Studies show midwife-led care reduces unnecessary interventions, improves birth outcomes, and is particularly effective in underserved communities. In Georgia, where 93 counties have no hospital labor and delivery unit, midwives could be the difference between care and no care at all. But Georgia law makes it nearly impossible for many of them to practice.
Licensed nurses with graduate degrees in midwifery. Legal in Georgia but banned from prescribing medication unless they sign a supervision contract with a physician. Many hospitals deny them privileges to practice.
Nationally certified midwives trained specifically for home and birth center births. Georgia does not recognize their certification. They cannot legally practice, access life-saving medications, or collaborate with other providers.
Trained outside of nursing programs, often with deep community roots and cultural competence. Georgia has effectively banned them since 1991, leaving communities of color with fewer birth options and less culturally familiar care.
Informal practitioners with experience but no formal licensing pathway in Georgia. They exist in communities but operate in a legal gray area with no access to medical support or supplies.
Source: Center for Reproductive Rights · Georgia CPM Organization · Georgia Board of Nursing
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, doctors and public health officials launched a campaign against midwives that was rooted in racism, sexism, and economic competition. They called it "the midwife problem." Black midwives, who were the primary birth attendants in their communities, were targeted first. Georgia began requiring certification in the early 1900s, then in 1979 stopped certifying new midwives entirely. By 1991, only CNMs were allowed to practice. The result is a state where trained, qualified midwives are ready to serve but the law will not let them. The Center for Reproductive Rights is currently suing the state of Georgia over these restrictions.
Source: Center for Reproductive Rights · PMC Maternal Mortality Study 2024
Women in Southeast Georgia are traveling 2 or more hours each way for prenatal care after the Savannah Birthing Center closed. For late pregnancy, weekly appointments become exhausting and dangerous.
In February 2025, Georgia's oldest freestanding birth center closed, leaving just 3 birth centers in the entire state. As of August 2025, only 36% of rural Georgia hospitals offered labor and delivery services.
Hospitals in many Georgia communities will not give CNMs privileges to practice even where they are technically legal. Midwives are trained and certified but hospitals refuse to let them serve patients.
Some Georgia mothers are traveling to neighboring states like South Carolina or Tennessee to access midwife-led birth centers because the options simply do not exist where they live.
Georgia counties with no OB or nurse midwife of any kind
maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in Georgia in 2021, nearly twice the national average
freestanding birth centers left in the entire state of Georgia as of 2025
Source: PMC Maternal Mortality Study 2024 · Center for Reproductive Rights · WTOC News March 2026
Georgia is one of a shrinking number of states that does not license CPMs. Legislation to recognize their national certification has been proposed and blocked repeatedly. Contact your Georgia state representative and senator and ask them to support CPM licensure now. The Georgia CPM Organization tracks this legislation at georgiacpm.org.
Certified nurse midwives in Georgia cannot prescribe medication without entering a supervision contract with a physician. This is unnecessary, burdensome, and has no equivalent in most other states. North Carolina just removed this requirement in 2025. Georgia should follow. Ask your lawmakers to support full practice authority for CNMs.
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit challenging Georgia's midwifery restrictions in 2024. You can sign their petition, share their resources, and donate to support the legal fight at reproductiverights.org.
With only 3 birth centers left in all of Georgia, new ones are desperately needed especially in rural South Georgia. Support organizations working to open community-based birth centers and advocate for Medicaid reimbursement for birth center care which makes them financially viable.
Even where CNMs are legal, many Georgia hospitals refuse to grant them practice privileges. Contact your local hospital's board of directors and ask why their credentialing policies block midwives. Organize with other women to make this a public conversation.
Certified Professional Midwives in Georgia are practicing and training in a legal gray area because women need them. Find them at georgiacpm.org. Share their stories. Normalize midwifery care. The cultural shift matters as much as the legal one.
1. Look up your Georgia state rep at openstates.org and send them one email asking them to support CPM licensure and CNM full practice authority.
2. Sign the Center for Reproductive Rights petition at reproductiverights.org/cases/challenging-harmful-midwifery-restrictions-georgia
3. Share this poster with every woman you know in Georgia. The more women who understand this issue the harder it becomes for lawmakers to ignore it.
Create a private group on Discord, GroupMe, or Signal for women in your county or region. Share updates on the lawsuit, legislative news, and local resources. Keep each other informed and activated.
Invite a local CNM, doula, or birth advocate to speak at a community gathering about what care options actually exist in your area and what women are legally entitled to. Knowledge is the first step to demanding change.
Gather women and spend one hour writing to your Georgia state representative and senator demanding CPM licensure and full practice authority for CNMs. Find your rep at openstates.org. Numbers matter. One woman sending a letter is a complaint. A hundred women sending letters is a movement.
Most hospital board meetings are open to the public. Attend and ask publicly why your hospital does not grant CNMs practice privileges. Bring other women with you. Public pressure works when it is consistent and visible.
Follow and share the Georgia CPM Organization at georgiacpm.org and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Share their content. Tag your local news stations. The more noise women make about this the harder it becomes to ignore.
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