Proponents of midwifery point to The Netherlands, where midwifery is widespread and the national infant mortality rate has been lower than in the U.S. (10.6 vs. 16.1 per 1,000).

Rising costs and feminism bring back an ancient art

For most of the human species’ existence, the delivery of babies has been the exclusive prerogative of women. It was only at the turn of this century that U.S. physicians, most of them then male, decided to put the delivery business…

In the U.S., the role of midwives were taken over by doctors, Dr. Kloosterman of the Uni. of Amsterdam, said that 70% of the new born babies could be delivered by midwives.

Midwifery may not be the world’s oldest profession, but it is described in the earliest books of the New Testament. The midwife was an accepted member of the social structures of ancient Greece and Rome, and once held the exclusive right to assist women at childbirth. In most countries she…