More Women Than Ever Are Choosing Home Births

From the CIMS April e-newsletter: According to recent data on home births published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (based on 26 states, comprising 50% of U.S. births), reporting data on planning status of home birth in 2009, there were 29,650 home births in the United States, the highest level since data on home births began to be collected in 1989. After a decline from 1990 to 2004, the percentage of U.S. births that occurred at home increased by 29%, from 0.56% of births in 2004 to 0.72% in 2009. The percentage of home births in 2009 was three to five times higher for non-Hispanic white women than for any other racial or ethnic group.

Louisiana and the District of Columbia had the fewest number of home births, 0.2% and Oregon, 2.0% and Montana, 2.6% had the highest. In 2009, 62% of home births were attended by midwives: 19% by certified nurse midwives and 43% by certified professional midwives or direct-entry midwives. Home births are more common among women aged 35 and over and women with several previous children. The report found that home births have a lower risk profile than hospital births, with fewer births to teenagers or unmarried women, and with fewer preterm, low birthweight, and multiple births.

In a ground-breaking Home Birth Consensus Summit that took place last October in Virginia, supporting home birth as a safe option for women was validated by maternity care stakeholders including medical, midwifery and nurse professionals, consumer advocates, researchers, hospital administrators, health insurance liability providers, public health and policy makers.

Timothy J. Fisher, MD, FACOG, the chair of Women’s Health services at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic in Keene, New Hampshire, who participated at the Summit, stated, “I believe it is time for us to look critically, with open hearts and minds, at how and where to provide women with safe, high quality maternity care at reasonable cost. With rising rates of intervention, a shrinking physician workforce and unsustainable costs of hospital-based care systems, it is time we did some out-of-the-box thinking!” Dr. Fisher also spoke recently at the CPM Symposium, held March 16-19 in Washington D.C.

The safe option of home birth also received quite a boost among policy makers on November 16, 2011 when Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) recognized the importance of the Home Birth Consensus Summit on the House Floor. The California Representative encouraged professional care providers and maternity care consumer advocates to affirm the Home Birth Consensus Statement. A video of her address on the Home Birth Consensus Summit to Congress is available at Youtube.

Our bi-weekly Birth & Parenting News blog highlights the latest news items, research results, consumer alerts, and legislative action alerts of interest to expectant and new parents and the professionals who work them. From Center for the Childbearing Year.

Posted by Patty Brennan on May 8, 2012 • Filed under Birth & Parenting News
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