Congrats to Incoming Board Members

We’re thrilled to announce the results of the 2025 NACPM Board of Directors election. Please join us in congratulating and warmly welcoming our newest and returning leaders.

These new board leaders will join the NACPM leadership team at our meeting this October in Austin. We look forward to working together in service of equitable, community-rooted midwifery, and we thank them for their commitment to our profession and the families we serve.

We’re also pleased to share that the Standards for Practice as a Certified Professional Midwife were approved by member vote on September 7, 2025. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to drafting, reviewing, and voting to affirm these standards.

Thank you to every member who voted and helped shape the future of our profession.

Wicanhpi Iyotan Win Autumn Cavender (Upper Sioux Reservation)

Autumn Cavender is a midwife, writer, artist, and activist from the Upper Sioux Reservation (Pezihutazizi K'api Makoce). Beginning birth work in 2008 at age 17, she has served as a doula, full-spectrum doula trainer, childbirth educator, and midwifery trainer. A respected lecturer, Autumn advocates for midwifery, traditional Indigenous birth practice, and Indigenous language revitalization. She serves on the South Dakota Board of CPMs, the Minnesota Midwives’ Guild,  and  the North American Registry of Midwives provisional board. Currently a Bush Fellow exploring the intersection of medical practice and metaphysics, she is based on her home reservation, where she lives with her two children, partner, a German Shepherd, and the occasional chicken.

Binta Niang, LM (Washington)

Binta Niang is a licensed midwife, educator, and community health advocate based in Seattle. Founder of Blessed Hands Midwives and adjunct faculty at Bastyr University, she has led maternal-child health and early learning programs serving immigrant, refugee, and underserved families. Multilingual in French, English, and Bambara, Binta brings over a decade of experience in healthcare leadership, program development, and culturally responsive care. Her work centers equity, birth justice, and building supportive pathways for midwifery students and new graduates to enter and thrive in the profession.

Melissa Chong, CPM (Hawaii)

Melissa Chong is a passionate advocate for integrating the CPM credential, at its fullest scope, into all systems of care. She brings experience in both birth-center and homebirth practices, along with policy work and familiarity with federal-level health structures. Melissa volunteers actively to advance integration, equitable access, and full-scope utilization of CPM skills, with a focus on reducing barriers that drive provider attrition and limit long-term practice. Her work centers collaboration across settings so CPMs can contribute fully to safe, community-based perinatal care.

Sakina O’Uhuru, RN, CNM, MS, CPM (North Carolina)

Sakina O’Uhuru has practiced the art of midwifery for more than 25 years and has provided maternal-child health care in underserved communities for over 30. She was the first African American Site Director/Director of Midwifery Services at Morris Heights Women’s Health & Birthing Pavilion (1999–2004), the first NYC clinic to offer out-of-hospital prenatal, labor, and delivery services in an underserved community. A clinical preceptor for SUNY Downstate, Stony Brook, Columbia, and NYU, Sakina founded Gentle Spirit Home Birth Midwifery Services and has served well over 1,000 families. She founded the nonprofit A Woman’s Way (2013) and A Wombman’s Way Warrior Midwife Training Program (2020; pending MEAC). Her publications include Journey to Birth (2013). She currently practices in Charlotte, NC.

Meredith Bowden was also re-elected to the Board this year. We’re grateful for her ongoing service and steady leadership.

Note on Marinah Farrell: Marinah was elected by NACPM members in this cycle. After the election, she graciously declined the seat due to unexpected significant, time-sensitive commitments at Phoenix Allies for Community Health, the free clinic she co-founded. We honor her service and are grateful for her continued leadership in the broader movement.

Upholding Informed Choice: Midwifery’s Role in Emerging Public Health Questions

In recent months, questions have surfaced around issues such as the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine and use of acetaminophen during pregnancy. We understand how quickly such concerns can raise uncertainty for midwives and the families we serve. At NACPM, we believe the midwive's role is not to dictate choices, but to ensure that every client has access to clear, evidence-based information, supportive alternatives, and the space to make decisions aligned with their own values and circumstances.

We affirm that midwifery is a human rights profession, grounded in the principles of informed choice and bodily autonomy. While evidence matters  people’s decisions are also shaped by lived experience, cultural context, financial realities, and histories of exclusion or harm within the medical system. That is why NACPM holds space for for peer-reviewed studies and the wisdom of practices that have served communities for generations alongside reverence for body autonomy.

Our commitment is threefold:

• Evidence: We draw on the best available research to provide accurate, up-to-date information on health risks, treatments, and alternatives.
  

• Equity: We recognize that policies and funding decisions often limit access to care, especially for Black, Indigenous, rural, and marginalized families, and we advocate to expand, not restrict, those options.
  

• Autonomy: We believe every person has the right to decide what is best for themselves and their families, free from coercion and supported by trusted care.

Whether the topic is pain relief in pregnancy, vaccine access, or other emerging public health concerns, NACPM will continue to walk alongside midwives and the communities they serve; ensuring that client voices remain central, and that care is delivered with dignity, transparency, and respect.

COVID-19, Vaccines, and Pregnancy

Acetaminophen Use in Pregnancy

New Advocacy Stance on Collaborative Agreements & Interprofessional Relationships

The NACPM Board is proud to release a new advocacy stance addressing collaborative agreements and interprofessional relationships. This statement centers the impact of forced contracts on client choice, equity, and systemic trust, while affirming that Certified Professional Midwives should be recognized as autonomous primary care providers. It calls for removing mandatory collaborative agreements—which can undermine midwifery autonomy and limit access to care—and instead building integrated, respectful care systems that prioritize client-centered collaboration.

A Bold Step Forward: Updated CPM Philosophy, Values & Ethics Statements Released!

Together, We’re Defining the Heart of Our Profession

We’re thrilled to share a powerful moment in our shared journey as a profession. For the first time since 2010, Certified Professional Midwives have a newly written Philosophy and Principles of Practice, and updated Statement of Values and Statement of Ethics—created by and for the CPM community.

The last version of the Statement of Values and Ethics, developed by the now-dissolved Midwives Alliance of North America, served the profession for over a decade. Today, we step forward with renewed clarity, rooted in shared purpose, and shaped by voices across our profession.

This was a collective effort. The process included multiple stages of review and feedback to ensure the final documents truly reflect the depth, integrity, and diversity of our work:

• Drafting: A NACPM working group of board members, stakeholders, and subject matter experts came together to develop the initial drafts.
  

• Internal Review: These drafts were refined with input from the NACPM Board of Directors and committee members.
  

• Stakeholder Feedback: The drafts were shared with members (voting and non-voting) for input—your insights were invaluable.
  

• Organizational Feedback: We invited NARM and MEAC to provide feedback to support alignment across our profession.
  

• Public Comment: A final round of public input helped ensure transparency, inclusivity, and accountability.
  

• Board Approval: The final suggests were reviewed and the final draft approved by the NACPM Board.

These new guiding documents reflect not only where we are—but where we’re going.