A lawsuit filed was today by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation an the Center for Reproductive Rights challenging a midwifery law that they say is preventing pregnant people in Hawaiʻi from using skilled midwives for their pregnancies and births, as they have for generations.
Fervent testifiers over many hours at Maui County Council sought the freedom to choose birth practitioners regardless of licensure status. Apprenticeship-trained midwives would be criminalized after July 1 when the current exemption expires if the state doesn’t approve pending legislation.