Back to the Earth: Exploring Environmentally Sustainable Midwifery as a Means for Supplementing Traditional Maternal Care

Can the solutions to the maternal health crisis come from the very systems it originated from, or must we look elsewhere for answers? Are there feasible pathways to supplement unsustainable Western maternal care practices with the individualized affirmation, support, and attention that only non-clinical birthworkers can provide? To validate these questions, the examination of existing data and literature will support the conceptualization and operationalization of the birthing experience. Using this premise as a foundation, the most profound connections between the U.S. healthcare system’s treatment of people who can become pregnant and how the presence of ecologically sustainable midwifery practices may promote positive health outcomes in both the parent and child can be revealed. The primary objective of this investigation is to gain a consensus on the essential yet rarely researched areas of this field. This will include an inquiry into: inclusive language within the field of obstetrics and gynecology, histories of birthwork, the environmental footprint of healthcare, cultural dichotomies of purity and pollution relating to pregnancy, and evidence-based care practices that can reduce the strain on both the patients and environment. These findings may be used to identify actionable pathways for the promotion of sustainable pre- and postpartum midwifery care as well as advocate for their presence, in addition to other non-clinical personnel, to be integrated into mainstream healthcare frameworks as effective tools to provide sustainable obstetric care. Keywords: birthwork, decolonization, healthcare, midwifery, sustainability, obstetrics