‘Medical colonialism’: midwives sue Hawaii over law regulating Native birth workers
In this piece by the Guardian, Center plaintiff Kiʻi Kahoʻohanohano and Senior Staff Attorney Hillary Schneller discuss a new case seeking to protect midwifery care in Hawaiʻi.
The Guardian reported on a new lawsuit filed in a Hawaiʻi state court by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners February 27 against a midwifery restriction law that is preventing pregnant people from receiving pregnancy and birth care from trusted, skilled midwives. The law imposes restrictive new licensing requirements upon anyone providing care during pregnancy, birth, or postpartum and has been particularly devastating for Native Hawaiian midwifery practitioners and families of color.
Kiʻi Kahoʻohanohano, a Native Hawaiian midwife and the lead plaintiff in the case, told the Guardian that since the restriction went into effect, she has been forced to turn away families seeking her services nearly every week for the past year.
“I am known to my community as a resource, a person who can help our moms,” Kahoʻohanohano said. “Why can’t I use the knowledge I have to help my own, my ohana?” she said, using a Hawaiian word for family.
Kahoʻohanohano v. State of Hawaiʻi
View full case details, read about the plaintiffs, and more.
Read the article here:
“‘Medical colonialism’: midwives sue Hawaii over law regulating Native birth workers,” The Guardian, 02.27.24
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