SB282 Summary

• Creates a State Board of Midwifery with seven members (four certified professional midwives, one physician, one certified nurse midwife, one consumer member) to license and regulate certified professional midwifery practice in Alabama.

• Establishes licensing requirements including minimum age 21, U.S. citizenship or legal residency, and certified professional midwife credential from accredited programs, with limited exceptions for applicants credentialed before January 1, 2020.

• Defines midwifery scope of practice including antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care, while prohibiting licensed midwives from performing epidurals, narcotic analgesia, forceps/vacuum delivery, abortion, cesarean section, multiple pregnancies, and non-cephalic deliveries.

• Requires licensed midwives to provide clients with disclosure forms, informed consent, emergency care plans, and collect clinical data; file birth certificates; instruct clients on newborn health screening and eye ointment requirements; and maintain professional liability insurance once deemed affordable and available.

• Makes unlicensed practice of midwifery for compensation a Class C misdemeanor, with exceptions for certified nurse midwives, trainees, and those providing gratuitous assistance; repeals previous midwifery statutes and amends birth registration and massage therapy definition sections.