Excerpt:
The Research Materials Used to Write
"The Official Plan to Eliminate the Midwife"
The following historical account comes primarily from documents published in professional journals between 1900 and 1930. The majority of the material was published in the "Transactions for the Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality" 1910 -- 1915. This archival material records the historical blueprint of an official campaign to do away with the independent practice of midwives. Also faithfully recorded in these journals was the efficacy of care by midwives of the era, the history of the school for midwives in New York City and its excellent statistics, and the increase in maternal and infant mortality that occurred as midwives were progressively eliminated from practice. These documents, written at a time when women did not have the right to vote, were intended for "professional eyes only".