The cultural power of law: The criminalization, organization, and mobilization of independent midwifery

My study investigates how law has shaped the self-conception and organization of contemporary independent midwifery in the United States. In many states, non-nurse midwifery is criminalized and actively prosecuted. In response, midwives and their home birth supporters have been pressured to engage with state legislatures in pursuit of legal recognition through licensure. Using newsletters of local and state midwifery organizations to document the circumstances of organizational growth, supplemented by extensive interviews with midwives and birth activists, I explain the ways in which the threat of prosecution has pressured midwives to organize and has affected group membership and self-conception in two different legal contexts over the last three decades. My study also focuses on midwives' legislative activities. Analyzing audio recordings of legislative debates in six states in which midwives have recently sought licensure, and through interviews with legislators and other participants, I explore how the legislative process has encouraged the development of national organizations and favored particular constructions of midwifery, yet how activists' ability to strategically navigate legislative settings and associate themselves with cultural values traditionally connected to their medical opponents has enabled them to achieve some legislative victories. Investigating midwives' legislative involvement in conjunction with their efforts to develop local, state, and national organizations in support of their cause enables me to explain whether and how midwives' encounter with the law has transformed the character of midwifery in any lasting way. By approaching prosecution and the attainment of licensure not as discrete events that affect midwives when they occur, but as processes that transform midwifery over time, my study contributes to our understanding of the complex ways in which law shapes and pervades everyday practices. It also contributes to key debates in recent sociology of science by exploring how midwives employ science to establish their credibility in legal forums.