That situation is unsafe for mothers and babies. Since home birth is going to continue, with or without the blessing of the state, licensing of direct-entry midwives, those who usually provide their services outside a hospital or clinic, can help make those births safer.

That is the reasonable premise of House Bill 25 that outlines how the state Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing would certify midwives and supervise their activities. And now that HB25 has been reworked with stricter monitoring requirements, it deserves to be passed by the Legislature.

HB25, modified in some important ways after it failed to pass the 2004 Legislature, requires midwives to complete a thorough course of training in order to be certified and sets up a Licensed Direct-entry Midwife Board to make sure that certified midwives provide care during normal pregnancies and deliveries according to accepted standards.

It states that midwives who practice without a certificate are breaking the law.

The revised version also requires certified midwives to report data on home births to the midwife board. The board must present a report to the Legislature's Health and Human Services Interim Committee each year from 2006 through 2011, describing data it collects on the conduct of licensed direct-entry midwives practicing in Utah. The reports will help legislators monitor how well the certification process is working and whether it improves the safety of home births under certified midwives' care.

HB25 also rightly sets stricter limits on what drugs direct-entry midwives may administer and establishes guidelines for when midwives must refer their patients to a doctor or other professional health-care provider, terminate their care or transfer them to a hospital or clinic.

The legislation provides safeguards both for the public and for midwives. Requiring certification would make the practice of midwifery more open to state and public scrutiny, and would give direct-entry midwives a legitimacy they don't now enjoy. Collecting data on midwifery can help improve the practice.

HB25 provides fair answers for the concerns of both advocates and critics of home birth and midwifery.