Research on home birth consintently showes that for healthy low-risk women a planned home birth (or birth in a Birth Center) under the care of midwife is as safe, if  in not in some cases safer, than a hospital birth.  Midwives work within a system of consultation, collaboration and referral; assessing risk factors at the initial visit and throughout your care. If specialized physician care or a  planned hospital birth is indicated your midwives continue to provide supportive care in collaboration with physician care.   When a hosptial transport is needed in labor, evidence shows that a system allowing smooth transition and continuity of care is the most benefit to the woman and her baby.  The midwives of Trillium WomanCare provide ongoing support during any needed transfer and continuously work to improve the process in your local community that is both respectful of your choices and responsive to the medical needs leading to the transfer.

The American College of Nurse Midwives has a resource page:  Home oirth: Resources for Payers and Policymakers is a source of good information when asking your insurnace provider to pay for home birth care.   The Home Birth Bibliography is a complilation of published studies on home birth compiled by Saraswathi Vedam, RM CNM MSN, Director, Division of Midwifery, University of British Columbiaand Chair of the HomeBirth section of the American College of Nurse Midwives.

An excellant site to eplore Evidenced Maternity Care is hosted by the ChildBirth Connection  a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1918 as Maternity Center Association. Our mission is to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy and policy. Childbirth Connection promotes safe, effective and satisfying evidence-based maternity care and is a voice for the needs and interests of childbearing families.

United States Maternity Care Facts and Figures December 2009 is a fact sheet updates various national maternity statistics provided in Evidence-Based Maternity Care: What It Is and What It Can Achieve (1) with new data now available.

Childbirth Connection's Resource Directory for Evidenced Based Care is routinely updated with current and emerging data.

Sense & Sensibility is a good research blog about healthy pregnancy, birth and beyond hosted by Lamaze International.

Citizens for Midwifery is a non-profit, volunteer, grassroots organization. Founded by several mothers in 1996, it is the only national consumer-based group promoting the Midwives Model of Care.   

The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) is a coalition of individuals and national organizations with concern for the care and well-being of mothers, babies, and families. Their mission is to promote a wellness model of maternity care that will improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs. This evidence-based mother-, baby-, and family-friendly model focuses on prevention and wellness as the alternatives to high-cost screening, diagnosis, and treatment programs.

See our links page for other organizations and information about midwives and out of hospital care.