There is a moment in the birth room, toward the end, when the intensity has almost peaked and clients fall into deep sleep in 90 second increments.

Sustainability takes on an even broader meaning when viewed through a midwifery lens:

• How can we, as midwives, practice in ways that are more environmentally sustainable?

• How can we sustain ourselves while working in a career that asks so much of us?

• How can we ensure that the profession itself is sustained for generations to come?

DAF Day is a national day of giving with donor advised funds (DAF). This DAF Day, October 8, consider recommending a grant from your DAF to our 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, the new National Foundation for Certified Professional Midwives (NFCPM)!

NACPM is excited to share our 2026 Mid-Year Donor Report — a look at what supporters helped make possible in the first six months of this year.

On September 11, 2026, Massachusetts officially established state licensure for Certified Professional Midwives!

The National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM) and the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) are thrilled to announce our partnership in hosting “The Community Birth Conference” — happening May 20-23, 2027 in Greenville, South Carolina!

NACPM is excited to share our 2025 State Policy Report — a detailed accounting of the state bills and regulatory efforts NACPM supported last year.

Midwifery stands at the intersection of clinical care, cultural tradition, and community trust. Yet, the global development of the midwifery workforce has too often mirrored inequities found across health systems, where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are underrepresented in formal leadership, under-resourced in training pathways, and undervalued despite generations of knowledge and practice.

The North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) and the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM) recently learned of the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council’s (MEAC’s) decision to withdraw from recognition by the U.S. Department of Education. Neither NARM nor NACPM participated in or had advance notice of that decision.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal, where more than 3,000 midwives from around the world have gathered for the 34th Triennial Congress of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM).

I come before you very humbly because I believe many of us feel this tension every single day in our work. We feel the divide within midwifery. We feel the pressure to choose a side.

This May, NACPM made history. Our first-ever virtual conference, “Centering Midwives, Restoring Care,” brought together midwives, students, birth workers, funders, advocates, and allies from across the country for two transformative days of learning, connection, and community.

Too many women still die from preventable causes during pregnancy and childbirth. Skilled care before, during, and after birth can save lives — and midwives are best placed to provide it. Achieving universal coverage of midwife-delivered interventions by 2035 could avert 67% of these deaths. But, the world is short one million midwives. We need urgent action to grow, support, and sustain the global midwifery workforce. This #IDM2026, sign the global petition calling on policymakers for #OneMillionMore

The word “advocacy”, while by definition encompasses an action, can mean many things to different people. I would like to speak to the intention of the why perinatal advocacy is critical to the improvement of perinatal health disparities, and highlight examples of how you can step in, too.