Judge's ruling temporarily allows for unlicensed Native Hawaiian midwifery

A Hawaii judge is temporarily blocking the state from enforcing a law requiring the licensing of practitioners and teachers of traditional Native Hawaiian midwifery. The temporary stay is for while a lawsuit challenging the statute wends its way through the courts. A group of women who are plaintiffs in the suit say the law threatens their ability to serve women who seek customary Native Hawaiian births. Judge Shirley Kawamura's ruling this week bars the state from “enforcing, threatening to enforce or applying any penalties to those who practice, teach, and learn traditional Native Hawaiian healing practices of prenatal, maternal and child care.”