The Maui County Council is considering a measure asking the state Legislature to allow all types of birthing practices in Hawaiʻi.
The county resolution follows a 2019 state law that established a licensing structure for midwives. But it’s been controversial because it limits traditional birthing methods.
Morea Mendoza works with Pacific Birth Collective, a nonprofit that advocates for expanded healthcare options, including birthing practices. She said allowing more methods can be helpful in rural areas where hospitals are sparse.
She also said more midwives could have helped during the recent nurses’ strike at Maui Health facilities.
"Maui mothers were being flown to Oʻahu to give birth — healthy mothers — splitting up families in the process. And all those mothers may have not wanted or intended to give birth out of the hospital in the first place. One thing remains clear: It’s that, if we have any issues at our single hospital capacity, as we've seen during the COVID pandemic, the nurses’ strike, access like we saw in the fires during 2024, we need practitioners of all kinds to be able to go to mothers and do what they are rigorously trained to do," she said.
Mendoza and other testifiers supported the county measure during the council hearing on Friday.
