Tag
Stories and analysis collected under “Historicalmidwifery”.
What happened to midwifery in America? Part 2
The 19th century began an era of modern childbearing that transformed birthing from a family-centered occurrence to an isolating, anxious experience for laboring mothers.
Campaigns against midwifery, starting at the beginning of the 19th century, set the table for strained relationships between physicians and midwives, persisting to the present time. Anti-midwifery sentiments, enhanced by the attitudes of J. Whitridge Williams (1912) and Joseph Bolivar DeLee (1915)*, ushered in an age of obstetrics and scientific medicine which were considered the only modern and realistic choice for safe and healthy childbirth in America.