FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2014, file photo, Illinois state Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, listens to debate legislation on the House floor at the Capitol in Springfield. Gabel is making her third attempt in a year to legalize certified professional midwives in Illinois, which has barred the practice since 1987. The proposal is staunchly opposed by some doctors, who say babies should be born only in hospitals. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
The Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - State Rep. Robyn Gabel is making her second attempt in a year to legalize certified professional midwives in Illinois, which criminalized the practice in 1987.
The proposal is staunchly opposed by some doctors, who say babies should be born only in hospitals.
Gabel's Home Birth Safety Act proposal would license certified professional midwives and standardize training. Illinois stopped issuing licenses to midwives in 1963.
Leaders at the Coalition of Illinois Midwives say licensure would also allow low-income women to hire midwives, which could lower the state's Medicaid costs.
Doctors say at-home births include possible risks such as postpartum hemorrhaging and the need for resuscitation.
But midwives say they would work closely with doctors, much like is done in the nearly 30 states where midwifery is legal.
This April 2015 photo provided by Mishra Keller via Amanda Jean Photography shows Keller posing for a photo with her husband, Ryan, and children in Evanston, Ill. Keller skirted an Illinois state law when she chose to deliver her second child at home with the help of a midwife, given that the trained birthing professionals have been barred from practicing since 1987 in Illinois. Keller, a holistic health coach in Evanston, disagrees with the state's stance, saying that midwives are a "good resource."Â State Rep. Robyn Gabel is making her third attempt in a year to legalize certified professional midwives in Illinois. (Amanda Kirsch/Amanda Jean Photography via AP)
The Associated Press