Medical studies consistently show that for most women, midwife assisted childbirth is as safe as or safer than physician-attended birth. Midwife-attended women are:

• 9 times less likely to have severe perineal tears
• 3 times less likely to have postpartum hemorrhage
• 6 times less likely to have fetal distress before birth
• 4 times less likely to need help to start breathing
• 4 times less likely to develop an infection

The routine use of medical interventions such as induction of labor, episiotomies, electronic fetal monitoring and cesarean sections is the greatest cause of complications associated with childbirth.

Sources: Center for Science in the Public Interest, the World Health Organization, and A Good Birth, A Safe Birth, by Diana Korte and Roberta Scaer, 1992.