From Australia to the US: Hannah Penaluna on Navigating Midwifery Autonomy and Regulation

I was so blessed to record this conversation with Hannah Penaluna that was a long time coming! She is an experienced midwife who moved from state controlled midwifery landscape of Australia to the wild west (ok she is in the south but still) of Georgia, an unregulated state in the U.S. The episode delves into her journey, exploring her midwifery practice in rural Australia, how vaccine mandates led to her termination under disciplinary action for non compliance there, and her transition to home birth midwifery in the U.S. Her experience in both of these locations and versions of midwifery help shed a lot of light and nuance on the regulatory challenges we are facing as midwives globally. This is a conversation between two unlicensed midwives who stand fof midwifery autonomy, and yet, we definitely also talk about the disturbing trend of unskilled unlicensed midwives or midwife adjacent practitioners cropping up in communities. Our conversation focuses in on humility, continuous learning, and accountability in midwifery, especially when we are working outside the system. Listen if for some genuine midwifery wisdom and a fresh take on some of these old conversations that trend towards being too black and white.