midwives

Well... I suppose I should clarify the statement about midwifery being illegal... Midwifery itself isn't banned outright, it has to do with the type of midwife training that the midwife has. Direct-entry midwives are illegal in 11 states, and are legal but unregulated in 16 states.

There are two types of midwives, nurse-midwives and direct-entry midwives. Nurse-midwives (as one might guess by the title) are trained in both nursing and midwifery, and since they are nurses, there generally is no question that these women are trained medical professionals and they're licensed as such.