Article
The Midwife Vrs the Vroedvrouw-The Troubled History of Midwifery In The United States As Compared to the Stability of Midwifery In The Netherlands.
unpublished
(1996)
Abstract
The struggle for midwifery has been a long and arduous journey in the United States. Even today it is only legally recognized in sixteen states. This is a major contrast between the midwives in the Netherlands who have had complete autonomy over normal births since early in the 19th century. I am very interested in the history of midwifery in these two separate countries since I gave birth to a baby in Amsterdam and am about to give birth to one here in the United States. I plan to trace the history of midwifery in both the USA and Holland and compare their different practices and philosophies. I will use myself as a case study in Holland and my sister as a case study in the state of Maine.
Keywords
- midwife,
- child birth,
- nurse midwife,
- vroedvrouw
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring 1996
Publisher Statement
This paper was written in 1996 for a Human Development class. Though midwifery has gone through changes in the US since this publication the history up until 1996 is still relevant.
Citation Information
Kathleen A Strub-Richards. "The Midwife Vrs the Vroedvrouw-The Troubled History of Midwifery In The United States As Compared to the Stability of Midwifery In The Netherlands." unpublished (1996) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kathleen_strub-richards/5/