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SMS History
Seattle Midwifery School (SMS) has its roots in women’s health, self-help, childbirth education, and breastfeeding support groups that emerged in the 1970s in response to the medicalization of childbirth—the organization was born of the Fremont Women’s Clinic in Seattle (photo above) in 1978. The school’s founders believed that a direct-entry midwifery education program would have a positive impact on the health and welfare of childbearing women and their families.
More than 200 midwives have graduated from SMS since then. Today, SMS graduates practice throughout the US and internationally. In addition, we’ve trained more than 3,000 birth doulas, postpartum doulas, doula trainers, lactation educators and childbirth educators. SMS provides continuing education to midwives and other health care professionals, organizes public events, and serves as a resource for midwives, policy makers, and the media across the continent.