"My wife was making 10 times what I was making when we got married"
— One iconic talk show host who isn’t afraid to admit he was a gold digger. Fragile masculinity, where?
Reproductive Health
Deliver Us From Georgia
What’s going on: A group of midwives just sued Georgia over laws that block many of them from practicing. The state requires midwives with nursing licenses to only work through physicians’ channels and doesn’t allow those without degrees to practice at all. The result: In a state with one of the highest maternal mortality rates, midwives now face one of the country’s most restrictive environments. The midwives argue the laws violate the state’s constitution, limit options, and harm patients’ safety in post-Roe Georgia. The lack of access also tends to impact people of color and lower-income families more. In response to the suit, the state’s attorney general’s office said they were unable to comment due to litigation. Similar cases have been filed in Mississippi and Alabama.
The bigger picture: Over a third of Georgia’s counties are technically maternity care deserts, with no OBs or birthing facilities. And midwives say they could help close that gap if the state would let them. Fifteen other states require midwives to partner with physicians, but critics argue it adds costs and unnecessary red tape. Midwives are already trained to refer patients to hospitals when complications arise, and research shows that the care they provide generally improves birthing outcomes. Perhaps that’s why so many European nations have embraced them (as anyone who’s seen Call the Midwife knows). As one plaintiff told NBC News: “If you are invested in solving the problem of maternal mortality and infant mortality, it doesn’t really make any sense that you’re not leveraging all of the providers that you can.”
