Hawaii Native Midwives Shut Down Licensing Requirements for Now

Unlicensed midwives who practice Native Hawaiian prenatal, maternal, and child care can continue to do so after a state trial court said that new licensing requirements likely unlawfully interfered with state constitutional protections for traditional healing practices.

The state’s new licensing requirements aren’t unconstitutional on their face, Judge Shirley M. Kawamura, of the Hawaii Circuit Court, First Circuit, said Wednesday. But they are invalid as applied to those who offer traditional healing techniques and currently have no “practical and meaningful pathway” to achieving state recognition, she said.

Hawaii enacted a midwife licensure law in 2019 to prevent a “significant risk ...