Area midwives and home-birth advocates are rebuffing a recent American Medical Association resolution that says the safest place for labor and delivery is in the hospital.

“I think they’re probably just responding out of fear a little bit for their turf,” said Jan Willson of Mechanic Falls, who had four children at home and is a midwife-in-training and co-director of the Pregnancy and Single Moms Support Center in Lewiston. “There’s no evidence to back up what they’re stating. I think that will be seen.”

The resolution was put forward by The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, an AMA member, during the AMA’s annual meeting last week. It states that the safest setting for labor, delivery and the immediate postpartum period is in the hospital or a birthing center within a hospital complex, and resolves that the AMA support state legislation that acknowledges that.

The group said it asked for the resolution now because of recent media attention surrounding celebrities who have had home births, including actress and former talk show host Ricki Lake, and because 21 states now license home-birth midwives using credentials other than those it prefers.

In Maine, no license is required to supervise a home birth, though about two dozen people here are certified as professional midwives through the North American Registry of Midwives. That is not the credential The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists prefers.

The author of the resolve, Dr. Erin Tracy of Massachusetts General Hospital, said she brought up the issue because she’s concerned the rate of home births will continue to increase in popularity.

“That’s potentially dangerous for moms and babies,” she said. “Even totally healthy, uncomplicated pregnancies can quickly go very wrong in the delivery setting, and you can’t always predict some obstetric emergencies.”

Safety, she said, is her top priority.

Midwives say safety is their top priority as well, but they argue that a hospital isn’t the only safe place to give birth.

“The evidence indicates that home birth, with a trained attendant, for low-risk women, is as safe as being in the hospital,” said Holly Arends, a certified professional midwife from Bath who has supervised home births for three years.

In some ways, home births are safer, she said. Women have lower rates of Caesarean sections, vacuum extractions, episiotomies, use of forceps and other sorts of interventions.

According to the Midwives Alliance of North America, a 2000 study showed dramatically fewer medical interventions at home, while the death rate of infants was about the same as those delivered in the hospital.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists maintains such safety studies are too limited and aren’t rigorous enough.

“I’m all for women’s empowerment and women’s choice; however, I think if you’re potentially talking about increased risk of your baby’s not surviving the labor process, I think that’s not where the focus should be,” Tracy said.

She hopes her resolution will encourage states to look at the way they license midwives and consider using the standards her association thinks are best.

Local midwives were frustrated by the AMA’s resolution, but they doubted it – and the ensuing media attention – would reduce the number of women who want home births.

It may even increase numbers.

“I think, actually, it’s probably going to go back in their face because it’s drawing more attention to the issue,” said Robin Doolittle, a Portland-area certified professional midwife. “People who normally wouldn’t be interested in home birth are suddenly talking about it.”