Columbia U Midwifery Expert Available for Comment on Study Confirming Birth Centers Provide Safe and Effective Care

A landmark study published in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health shows that birth centers, home-like settings where midwives provide care to healthy pregnant women provide safe care. The study reports excellent outcomes for the more than 15,000 women having birth center care in 79 midwife-led centers across 33 states. These findings are particularly remarkable in an era characterized by increases in obstetric intervention and cesarean birth nationwide.

Laura Zeidenstein, Program Director of the Nursing Midwifery Program at Columbia University School of Nursing, the nation’s oldest program in nurse midwifery and top-rated by U.S. News & World report is available for comment on the study as a third-party expert.

“Women should no longer be afraid of childbirth at a birth center,” said Zeidenstein. “Safety should no longer be a deterrent for women who wish to choose this life-affirming alternative to a hospital birth.”

Zeidenstein can also comment on the implications of the increase in the number of home births to 29 percent nationally from 2004 to 2009 according to the CDC and the number of midwifery practices in New York City increasing to 21 percent in 2012 from 17 percent in 2010 (Choices in Children).

Copies of the article are available upon request. To schedule an interview, please contact Rachel Zuckerman at [email protected] or 212-305-4092.