§ 4181. Definitions

The definitions contained in this section shall apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(1) “Director” means the Director of the Office of Professional Regulation.

(2) “Licensed Midwife (LM)” means anyone who has met the requirements set down by the North American Registry of Midwives and who meets the eligibility criteria set forth in this chapter.

(3) “Midwifery” means the provision of care, support, and education to healthy women during the childbearing cycle, including normal pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Such care occurs in collaboration and consultation with other health care providers, and can appropriately occur at home, in birthing centers, or in medical facilities. Such care, support, and education may relate to:

(A) appropriate measures that promote and maintain the health of the mother and baby;

(B) the availability of birthing alternatives;

(C) the prevention or reduction of risk to the mother and baby;

(D) the detection of abnormal conditions;

(E) the procurement of appropriate medical assistance;

(F) the execution of emergency measures;

(G) the provision of newborn care and appropriate screening; and

(H) the provision of wellwoman health care.

(4) “Midwifery educational process” means a course of study that includes a combination of apprenticeship, self-teaching, experience, formal instruction, correspondence work or at-distance learning, and practice in nonmedical settings, usually the home, but sometimes freestanding birth centers, approved or accredited, or both, by the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council.

(5) “NARM” means the North American Registry of Midwives.

(6) [Repealed.] (Added 1999, No. 133 (Adj. Sess.), § 44, eff. Jan. 1, 2001; 2019, No. 178 (Adj. Sess.), § 21, eff. Oct. 1, 2020.)