Hi! My name is Tiffany, and I am a homebirth Midwife. My story is long with many different twists and turns, but if you stick with me to the end of this, well, theres not technically an award but I would be eternally grateful! :)

From a very young age, I knew that God had placed me on this earth to be a midwife. At five years old, I told my mom I wanted to be an OB/GYN because all I wanted to do was catch babies. When I was 11, my mom became pregnant with my eldest brother and hired a midwife for a home birth. The moment I learned about midwifery, I knew that was what I wanted to pursue when I grew up. The first birth I attended was my brother Ben's, and from that moment on, I was hooked. Kathleen, (one of the original midwives on “Tha Farm”) my mom's midwife, recognized my interest and began taking me to births at the age of 11. I felt like the luckiest 11-year-old in the world, a sentiment that still holds true.

I continued to apprentice for the next 11 years, while I was in high school and through the births of two of my own children. At 22, I enrolled in the Ancient Art College of Midwifery, chosen for its reputation as the most rigorous course available at the time. I completed midwifery college at 26 and started my own practice. Throughout my career, I have felt a strong passion for supporting women's choices regarding their birth experiences. For the first 12 years of my practice, I worked unlicensed, believing that women should have the autonomy to make their own decisions about childbirth, free from external pressures from doctors, the state, and the government.

Women sought my care because I was not constrained by the health licensing office. Don’t get me wrong: I followed nearly all guidelines, but many fail to understand that not all pregnant women fit into a singular mold. What may be dangerous for one mother could be perfectly safe for another. Forcing everyone into the same box does a disservice to mothers and their babies.

In 2017, I began the process of becoming licensed in Oregon, which is known for having some of the best regulations in the country. I pursued licensure after hearing rumors that the state planned to mandate licensing for midwives, which would require me to start over with schooling and apprenticeship if I wasn’t grandfathered in. By that point, I had already been a midwife for over 15 years, and I was determined not to begin anew. I submitted a lengthy application and sat for the NARM Exam, the equivalent of a board exam for nurses, doctors, and lawyers. I passed on my first attempt, despite statistics indicating that more than half fail the first time. I remember being unable to sleep, anxiously awaiting my results. Fortunately, I received them around 6 AM and learned that I had passed. I jumped for joy in my brother Luke's living room, desperately trying to remain quiet so as not to wake him and his wife. I felt immense pride in my accomplishments.

I continued the licensing process, which required documentation of 10 additional births and payment to the licensing office. Within ten days, I became a certified professional midwife and an Oregon state-licensed midwife.

I have a profound understanding that God placed me on this earth to advocate for and serve mothers and babies in my role as a midwife. Throughout my career, I have faced significant opposition from various sources. I have encountered dismissive attitudes from medical professionals who did not view me as a legitimate care provider, as well as fellow midwives who resented the competition. I have battled against those who do not believe in home birth, and I remain steadfast in my commitment to it.

In 2021, I assisted a remarkable woman who was empowered in her beliefs about her body and childbirth while rejecting the medical community's constraints. At 20 weeks, we discovered that she had a condition known as placenta previa, where the placenta covers the cervix, preventing vaginal birth unless the placenta moves. Typically, 95% of cases resolve as the uterus expands. Healthcare providers usually conduct repeat ultrasounds and wait for the placenta to shift. If it does not move, we as midwives transfers to a high risk Doctor, an obstetrician for a cesarean section.

At 34 weeks, we confirmed that her placenta had not shifted. With a heavy heart, I informed her that we would need to transfer her care. Having had two successful home births, this was devastating for everyone involved. She was healthy, a strong candidate for home birth, and confident in her body's ability to give birth. However, we both understood the risks associated with her condition and the necessity of a cesarean delivery.

I referred her to a local OB, who confirmed the previa and scheduled her cesarean for the following week. However, another doctor in the practice alarmed her by claiming she was in grave danger and needed to undergo an emergency C-section that day to save her life and her baby's. She entered the hospital, where this obstetrician accused me of negligence, implying that I should have transferred her at 20 weeks. In a regrettable outcome, he performed a hysterectomy, leaving her unable to have more children.

Let me clarify: there is no way to manage, reverse, or stop a previa. It occurs without prediction, and no action could have altered her outcome. Transferring her sooner would not have changed anything. The doctor positioned her against me, punishing her for choosing a midwife over an OB/GYN. Paradoxically, this so-called emergency C-section was not performed until the following week.

This doctor chose to file a formal complaint against me with the health licensing office, claiming negligence, and encouraged my client to do the same. In November 2023, I received notice that they intended to revoke my license and impose a $20,000 fine. I had the option to request a hearing to contest this or to surrender quietly. I felt deeply betrayed by the health licensing office, which seemed to blindly take the doctor’s word rather than support a fellow midwife, and I decided I could not give up easily. I requested a hearing.

As this unfolded, the same doctor reviewed old hospital charts and reported any possible issues to the licensing office, encompassing cases from the COVID period in which I could not accompany my clients to the hospital, thus manipulating the narrative. One complaint involved a client I transferred to a different hospital, which had occurred three years earlier. Despite being uninvolved in her case, this doctor insisted that I was negligent for failing to send records, turning in complaints that appeared dubious at best.

On December 2, 2023, I was served with legal papers, informing me I was being sued for $950,000 regarding the placenta previa case. Despite the woman and her baby being healthy, she held me responsible for her hysterectomy, a potential outcome of an unresolved previa. I was devastated, faced with the repercussions nearly two years after the birth. Overwhelmed with sadness and betrayal, I began searching for an attorney.

After seeking local lawyers who had previously assisted midwives, I was fortunate to find Hermine Hayes-Klein. She is extraordinary, with a passion for midwives’ rights, women’s rights, informed consent, human rights, and justice. I am immensely grateful for her support and expertise, which have proven invaluable.

On April 11, 2024, we held our first hearing—a motion hearing in which my attorney requested the judge dismiss all allegations against me. She indicated that while not all could be dismissed, any dismissals would be beneficial. I listened in as Hermine adeptly represented me. The opposing attorney presented his case, and the judge swiftly decided to dismiss every single accusation, determining that I had committed no acts of negligence or illegality.

This felt like a monumental victory after months of discouragement and uncertainty, providing a glimmer of hope.

Since that April hearing, we have had no new accusations from the opposing side.

Today, October 17, 2024, just 11 days before my 45th birthday, I participated in a settlement conference with the health licensing office this morning. This conference determined whether I could propose an alternative to having my license revoked and paying a $20,000 fine. Last night, I discussed my intentions with Hermine. She asked me point-blank what I hoped to achieve in the settlement conference: Did I want to retain my license? Did I want to plead for a different disciplinary action? She suspected that if I desired to keep my license, I might need to be excessively apologetic.

The thought of compromising my integrity made me uncomfortable. I expressed my desire to be kind yet honest about my beliefs regarding the health licensing office's treatment of midwives and childbearing women. Hermine assured me she would support me in whatever direction I chose. We agreed that I would give it more thought overnight.

Having practiced as a traditional midwife for many years before obtaining my license, I am not afraid to return to traditional midwifery. My priority is to advocate for fellow midwives in similar positions and support women opting for midwife attended birth, allowing them to make choices that best serve their needs.

The following is the letter I wrote to the health licensing office and read at this morning's conference:

Letter to the Man!

You know, at first, I thought I was gonna come here with a heart touching, kind of story of who I am and what I represent. (And I promise you, I will get to what I represent.) I was going to try pulling on your heartstrings to get you to show a little compassion or empathy for a midwife that is called to represent and stand for women, and their choices in childbirth. That’s what you are right? A midwife that stands for women and their choices? Thats what WE are, right? That’s why we as midwives got into this kind of service , right? Do you remember why you wanted to become a midwife? Was it so you could put every woman in a box? And make them follow “rules” that only work for a few women but mostly for their care providers? Maybe it Was to make them feel like their bodies are broken and can’t grow or birth the baby that they were divinely given? Was it so you could be the hero in her birth story?

When you became a midwife Did you have a burning fire that not a single soul on this earth could put out? What was it? Where is that fire now? Was it to stand for women’s rights and choices in childbearing? Is it still to stand for women in their childbearing years and their childbearing rights? Is it still to stand for women who can make their own choices? Or is it to stand for a state that is trying to control and oppress and smother women in all walks of life?

I have attended over 1000 births in my almost 30 years of attending births. I have had my own practice for 18 of those 30 years. I started my own practice as a traditional Midwife in 2006 and in 2017 I became a licensed midwife. The reason I chose to be a midwife in the first place is because I believe in the choices women have when it comes to their bodies, their babies and their families. I stayed a traditional Midwife because I didn’t want the state to have control over how I practice. I believe that every woman has intuition and we as midwives have no other job but to nurture that. It is also our responsibility as midwives to use our own intuition on who to take as a homebirth client and who not to take as a home, client. And those decisions should be made, not out of fear of our state disagreeing with the way that we practice, but by what is right for each individual woman.

I am before you today knowing that your minds are already made up about me over 2 clients. 2 clients that have been made to believe that I am the bad guy in the story, by a Doctor that has been known to harass midwives in my community for many years. A doctor that has been served cease and desist papers to stop the harrassment. And it looks like it’s working on you too.

I have attended over 1000 births with a transfer rate less than 3% and a C-section rate less than 1% no maternal deaths no fetal deaths other than in utero issues that made the baby incompatible with life. I am a good midwife. I am a competent midwife. I am a woman that has been mistreated by the obstetrical world, and I am a woman that has been mistreated by homebirth midwives in my own childbearing years. I am also a woman who has a fear of authority and during my interviews felt like submission was my safest chance of being understood. The truth of the matter is there is no understanding on the licensing board. From what I have noticed the licensing board only cares about what the state says, and what the dr’s say. They are not For Women. They are not for midwives and they are not for babies. That is not what I signed up for when I became licensed. Being licensed is a disservice in so many ways to women, babies and families because really what it comes down to is control. I hope you take a look in the mirror today at yourselves And ask, what am I doing For Women? What am I doing for babies, and are the things that I’m standing for serving them or doing them an injustice?

I have been serving in my community for over 18 years. My name is well-known. I am well loved, and I have people that believe in me through all of this. I have outstanding reviews, and I am a midwife that cares about Midwifery, Mom’s, babies and families, and I will always fight for them, with or without a license. You taking my license will be a disservice to women in my community, considering I am 1 of 5 midwives for a large population. So tell me, do you care about women or do you care about the dr’s and states opinions of who you should be? Midwives are better than the obstetrical standard and we were put here to fight for that! Midwifery standard is what the drs should be fighting for. And if you don’t believe that you shouldn’t be a midwife. We have a gift and it’s not to be an OB.

To transfer a mom to a hospital here in Central Oregon is never some thing that is a warm welcome. Having friends that work in our one and only labor and delivery unit that has a NICU, I probably know more than I should. I can’t tell you how many times I have been told that if you have paper charts, they get thrown away. If you have faxed over charts, they get disregarded. We are not seen as colleagues. We are not seen as professionals we are not seen as care providers. We are scoffed at, and regardless of your belief, licensing did not help mitigate that. You may want to look more professional in the medical systems eyes, but in all reality you are a pawn in their game. You either stand for what Midwifery stands for or you stand what Dr’s. stand for and I know that I did not get into Midwifery to have Dr standards. I am above that and I will strive for better than that every day of my life. Show me a doctor that has a midwife’s statistics. Show me a doctor that cares about women and babies and families the way that a midwife does. Show me a doctor that has fought as hard as a midwife to stand for what they believe in. Show me a doctor that goes and fights for their license to serve women the right way. Show me a doctor that has half the heart that a midwife does for these women and these families.

I do not hold myself to a doctor’s standard. I hold myself to a midwife standard and a midwife standard is fighting for what is right for women and babies, and families regardless of the opposition that is against you. If you are a midwife on this board and you are not standing for what is right for these women and these babies then you should not be a midwife. If The only thing that you care about when it comes to your career is what the doctors think of you then that is not midwifery.

Today you are throwing the book at a vigilant midwife that has done nothing but serve her families individually. No deaths happened, everyone is alive and healthy and the things that did happen to them were not done by me or in my control. Jane Doe’s hysterectomy, if it was necessary, wouldn’t have been different with any other course of action or earlier transfer. Janice Deer was a situation I put myself in that I should not have allowed to happen. She had an unhealthy relationship with the scale, and with Dr’s. I was doing my best to do what she was begging me to do. I wanted her to see her value and that she was cared about. Her birth was beautiful. Her immediate postpartum was beautiful. She wasn’t traumatized until her hospital stay. I even went to the Ronald Mcdonald house and hung out with them and support them while their baby was in the NICU. She was in the hospital for 3 days. Why didn’t they make sure her baby was nursing in those days?

Blood pressure and gestational diabetes is something that I have always taken seriously and have transferred out for both of these issues a few times in my career. I am human, I am not perfect, but I am still a good midwife. Have you ever made a wrong choice in your practice?

Do you have any clients that you have personally been a midwife to that pulled on your heart? That made you want to fight for and with them? I can’t imagine your answer to be no, considering you are a midwife and midwifery is an act of love to the fullest extent. Every single one of my clients changes and pulls at my heart in one way or another.

You may say that your rules and regulations are what keeps moms and babies safe but in reality it’s forcing women to choose an unassisted birth that wouldn’t normally choose that. They are choosing an unassisted birth because that’s where they are heard and that’s where they are respected. I have five children, and my last two babies were born unassisted because of that exact same reason. Your rules and regulations are pushing moms and babies into danger rather than into the hands of somebody that can help them. They are choosing unassisted birth so that they have a voice, because they don’t have a voice with a licensed midwife or a dr. They do this knowing that they may be putting themselves and/or their baby at risk, they still choose unassisted birth. They want validation they want to be heard they want to be seen and they want to have a voice and a choice. The saying in the “free birth” world is, “if a midwife is licensed she works for the state and not for the women”. That makes me sick to my stomach. You, as the health licensing office are responsible for that. When it comes to Janice Doe she begged me to not transfer her. She swore she had white coat syndrome, and proved it to me by sending me weekly B/Ps from home that were WNL. I told her I needed to transfer her. She begged me not to do that to her. She begged for me to stand for her and I did. And in the end she turned on me deciding I was the bad guy because the dr’s handled her sons low blood sugar poorly. I sat with her for hours showing her how to feed him every which way possible and she didn’t listen to me or anyone else. I loved Janice Doe and her husband. They were 2 people that were so special to me. It destroyed me that they turned on me so quickly after putting my neck on the line for them. Yet here I sit, knowing the way it turned out, I still don’t regret standing for what she wanted in those moments. I’m a midwife. I represent freedom of choice, and true informed consent without coercion. I stand for a woman’s God given abilities and strengths to birth her baby where and how she wants. I fight for her voice to be heard among the crowd that doesn’t care. I advocate for her rights to be a woman and a mother in a world that believes she can’t do it. I’m a midwife. That is my job!

As I read this letter aloud to the many people gathered before me, my voice trembled, and I found myself in tears. Despite my emotional state, I felt a powerful resonance in my words, and my integrity remained intact. From the very start of this journey, I have consistently maintained that I would face this situation head-on and emerge with every last ounce of my integrity intact. My attorney reviewed my letter beforehand and praised its beauty and strength, but with a hint of humor, she pointed out that it probably wouldn’t lead to any kind of settlement—and I understood that. I knew I had to express my truth, not only for myself but also to honor the midwives who have come before me and those who will follow.

This battle was never about safeguarding my license; it was about standing firm for what is right. My attorney and my amazing husband have been unwavering pillars of support throughout this process, both fully backing my decision to do what was right. My attorney later remarked that she had never witnessed a midwife confront the board with such courage and integrity. During moments when I felt weak and contemplated giving up, they stood by me. I just wanted it all to be over. While this chapter may not be closed, the hearing today has concluded, and I feel a sense of peace about that, regardless of the outcome.

I am writing this to reach out for your support. I have incurred substantial expenses to protect my career, which have taken a toll on my family, my health, my marriage, and my finances. Going to trial against a health licensing board will exceed $50,000, and that trial is scheduled for April 2025. This does not include my ongoing Million dollar placenta previa lawsuit that I am still up against. At this point, I refuse to back down without a fight. I am being targeted by a Dr in my community and the health licensing office is allowing this to happen. This government agency does not prioritize women’s best interests, nor do they advocate for midwives. They are not serving the communities they are meant to represent. We must stand against this injustice. Hopelessness is not an option; it takes just one person to step forward and inspire others to join the fight.

I am asking you, and even pleading with you, to stand with me. Over the past year, as I have faced these challenges, a fire has ignited within me to raise awareness about obstetrical violence and to advocate for midwives facing unjust prosecution. I have begun the process of establishing a nonprofit organization aimed at financially supporting midwives grappling with similar battles. I want to ensure that they feel less alone in their struggles. Should I raise more funds than necessary for my legal fees, the surplus will go directly toward supporting midwives in their own legal challenges and bringing awareness to obstetrical violence.

Warmly,

Tiffany

#FREEDOMFIGHTER

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