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Six states consider home birth midwifery illegal, including Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, and South Dakota. Recently, Michigan passed legislation allowing at-home births. Additionally, 23 other states allow at-home deliveries but only under severe restrictions.

Although the medical community’s stance is that births at a hospital are the safest, any mother has the right to decide to give birth at home. However, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Committee on Obstetric Practice considers multiple gestations, a prior C-section delivery, or fetal malpresentation reasons to avoid at-home labor.

The physician or the midwife who attended the home birth is responsible for registering the delivery with the local Health Department. You can ask your midwife or physician when you can expect to get a copy of the birth certificate.