Supporting the advancement of the AABC birth center model as the standard to improve maternity and women’s health care.

The AABC Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established by the American Association of Birth Centers in 1994 to advance public knowledge and understanding of issues related to family-centered childbirth. We are changemakers raising funds to support the advancement of the AABC midwifery-led birth center model as a standard to achieve high-value, evidence-based wellness care that is equitable, safe, and respectful.

What is a birth center? The birth center is a health care facility for childbirth where care is provided in the midwifery and wellness model. The birth center is freestanding and not a hospital. 

Birth centers are an integrated part of the health care system and are guided by principles of prevention, sensitivity, safety, appropriate medical intervention and cost-effectiveness. While the practice of midwifery and the support of physiologic birth and newborn transition may occur in other settings, this is the exclusive model of care in a birth center.

The birth center respects and facilitates a woman’s right to make informed choices about her health care and her baby’s health care based on her values and beliefs. The woman’s family, as she defines it, is welcome to participate in the pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.