Freestanding Birth Centers: Innovation, Evidence, Optimal OutcomesWritten for graduate students and professionals in the fields of midwifery, women's health, and public health, this book explores the freestanding birth center model in the United States from its conception by pioneering midwives and others in the early 1970s to the present day. Compared to the hospital based birth model, the freestanding birth center offers a well documented, healthier, more cost effective, and more humane way to care for women and