The Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery (FAM) was formed in 1998 with the original purpose of providing a 501(c)3 organization through which interested individuals could donate to the projects of The Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA). FAM soon developed its own identity as an organization with a broad vision of the research, education and public policy needed to advance midwifery in North America. It is FAM’s mission to improve access to midwifery care and change the public perception of maternity care in North America.

The medical community is outspoken in its opposition to women giving birth outside of the hospital and with caregivers who are not physicians. Another barrier to access is that the public simply doesn’t know of the alternative to traditional hospital birth. The overuse of interventions including labor inducing drugs, epidurals, and cesarean sections has become the public’s idea of normal and good medical care. FAM believes childbirth is a feminist issue. Women have the inalienable right to choose their birth attendants and place of birth. Women have the right to experience the fullness of the spirituality of this most feminine of human experiences. FAM believes that only when options are available and known can women truly make an informed choice about how they might birth their babies.