Jamarah Amani knows what it's like to fight with hospital staff during labor. After a harrowing experience with her second child, where a nurse told her that her birthing choices would "kill the baby," she became a midwife to help others avoid the same treatment.
Now Amani, co-founder of the National Black Midwives Alliance, is suing Georgia over laws she says restrict access to midwifery care. Georgia doesn't allow midwives without a nursing degree to practice, and those with nursing degrees must work under physician supervision.
Advocates call Georgia's midwife policies among the most restrictive in the nation, at a time when the state's maternal mortality rates (particularly for Black mothers) remain among the worst in the country. Amani had to move to Florida in 2008 just to pursue her career. "No one should have to fight when they're in labor," she said.