ABSTRACT
I am excited to report that as this chapter goes to press, Virginia Governor Mark Warner has signed legislation to license Certified Professional Midwives! The CPM licensure law goes into effect on July 1, 2005 and establishes an Advisory Board to develop regulations for CPMs under the Board of Medicine. The Advisory Board will consist of “three Certified Professional Midwives, one doctor of medicine or osteopathy or certified nurse-midwife who is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth and who has experience in out-of-hospital birth settings, and one citizen who has used out-of-hospital midwifery services” (Commonwealth of Virginia 2005). Importantly, the bill ensures independent practice for CPMs and does not require mothers to be assessed by another health-care professional in order to seek midwifery care. Thus, the physician supervision requirement, which has prevented out-of-hospital practice for many nurse-midwives in Virginia, will not affect CPMs under this law.
