Women’s History Month: The History of Midwives in Illinois
In honor of Women’s History Month, The Insurance People wanted to share a piece of often overlooked women’s history – the practice of midwifery. A career field that has historically been women-led and women-focused, midwives are part of a long-standing traditional practice in reproductive healthcare. Like many aspects of reproductive healthcare, midwifery has faced barriers in the United States, that only recently saw a big win on legal practicing in Illinois.
To explore more of the history of this issue, we sat down and spoke with Becky Coolidge, who serves on the Illinois Midwifery Licensing Board and has practiced as a midwife for many years. Alexandra, the President and Founder of The Insurance People, first met Becky while advocating for women-focused legislation in Springfield; they have since worked together closely to advocate for midwives in Illinois. (Becky would later become a client of ours, and her daughter, Melissa, is now one of our awesome agents.)
Midwives have been around for centuries, and nearly every community in history has had their own version of a midwife as part of their culture – those who help deliver babies in their communities. Midwives were important members of their community, most often women, and recognizable for their role. Historically, midwives were trained via apprenticeship, learning via hands-on training, as opposed to going to school for midwifery.
“In the US, there are several types of midwives” Becky explains, “direct entry midwives, those who study and apprentice to become midwives; and certified nurse midwives, midwives who train as advanced practice nurses and then specialize in midwifery” – a specialization that often requires a doctorate, Becky notes. Most often when someone thinks of a midwife, they are imagining a direct entry midwife, as certified nurse midwives are a more recent phenomenon.
Midwives were able to obtain licenses to practice in Illinois from the 1920s up until 1963 – at which point, most births were conducted in hospitals by doctors, and the State of Illinois decided to stop licensing midwives, creating a statute that only doctors could manage the birthing process. This also meant midwives could be charged with felony impersonation of a doctor if caught practicing, due to the ambiguous language of the statute – and over the next several decades, multiple midwives were arrested in Illinois for practicing, including Hope Davis, a midwife who brought the first Illinois case to court to advocate for re-instating licensure for midwives.
Though the advancement of medical technology and training makes hospital births the first choice for many, criminalizing traditional methods of midwifery creates barriers for many who want more options available to them during pregnancy. For whatever the personal reason may be, many pregnant people seek to have a home birth; however, very few nurses are willing or able to travel for a home visit, and that is nearly a non-option for doctors today. Many in rural communities are also often miles from the nearest birthing hospital, and would have to risk long-distance travel while in labor if they did not have someone who could come to them. Still others may choose home births because of discriminatory practices they have experienced in the medical institute, such as those in the Black or Trans communities. Home births also skyrocketed in 2020 during the pandemic, which sparked a new wave of interest in it as an option.
Though many have argued this is not as safe as giving birth in a hospital with a doctor present, there will always be people who seek to give birth at home, or outside of the hospital setting. This means that those who wish to have a home birth will often seek out the assistance of a midwife for their delivery – the consequence being that since midwives could face a felony if discovered to be practicing, they would often not accompany those in labor to the hospital in case of an emergency – or would put off going to the hospital longer than they might otherwise for fear of being arrested.
For this reason, many have advocated for the return of licensed direct entry midwives in Illinois – instead of being criminalized, alternative choices should be available through licensed and registered midwives who can serve their community where they are at. Legislation has gone through the house every two-year cycle from the 1970s on, attempting to pass a bill on the issue.
This is how Alexandra met Becky – when Alexandra was lobbying in Springfield as a part of Mom + Baby, later re-named WeWill (Women Empowering Women In Local Legislation), a non-profit group dedicated to passing legislature on issues that affect mothers, she learned about the issues of midwife legislation in Illinois and got involved in advocating for the cause. Many women from across the political spectrum ended up speaking with their representative about their experiences and the issues they felt affected them. Finally, after years of advocating, in 2022 the Licensed Certified Professional Midwife Practice Act was signed into law, outlining a set of rules and regulations that would allow midwives to become licensed with the State once again. The Illinois Midwifery Board was also started, comprised of 5 midwives (Becky being one of them), 1 licensed OB, 1 registered nurse, 1 pediatric health care professional, and 1 member of the public.
New applications opened in early 2025, and as of now there are 24 licensed professional midwives in the state of Illinois, with the field continuing to grow. Women’s Rights has always been tied to personal choice, and people should have the ability to choose how they deliver, and under what circumstances, with freedom and control over their own body. At The Insurance People, our goal is to help people make their own choices in regard to their healthcare, and for this reason we celebrate this historic win for midwives and birthing people in the State of Illinois.
