Maternal Health Consulting

Are you a hospital, birth center, obstetrician, or a midwifery practice that wants to uphold the human rights of your pregnant patients while protecting yourself from legal risk? 

Is your organization trying to better understand obstetric violence, informed consent vis-a-vis liability, or how discrimination impacts racial mortality disparities? 

Let Hermine put her unique expertise to work for you.

Legal Consulting For Health Professionals

Hermine is licensed in the states of Oregon, New York, and Connecticut. 

She currently represents clients before courts and government agencies in Oregon. 

Hermine is also available to consult on legal matters outside the United States and Oregon, supporting clients and their local attorneys with expertise in birth rights and maternal healthcare.

Please contact Hermine to determine whether she can assist you in successfully resolving legal matters concerning obstetrical health care.

Global advocacy for Human Rights in Childbirth

In addition to being one of the nation’s most experienced attorneys in birth rights and midwife representation, Hermine organized six international Human Rights in Childbirth conferences. The conferences convened stakeholders from all provider groups in maternity care and put the voices and stories of birthing women and people at the center of the program.

The first Human Rights in Childbirth conference was held at at The Hague University in 2012, where Hermine taught law for four years. It brought together 300 maternal health leaders from 50 countries to discuss the law, science, and ethics of childbirth. Subsequently, Hermine organized two Human Rights in Childbirth conferences elsewhere in Europe, two in the United States, one in South Africa, and one in India. Hermine worked with volunteers from numerous organizations, including the Dutch consumer activist group Geboortebeweging, Black Women Birthing Justice, Midwifery Today, the Zulu Birth Project, Birth India, and the Birth Network of Bangalore. These conferences focused on issues ranging from the legal treatment of midwives in the US to the mistreatment and abuse of minorities and vulnerable people during childbirth. Pending legal matters relating to women’s autonomy in childbirth around the world were also discussed. 

In addition, the conferences provided an opportunity for birth-rights attorneys in the US and Europe and leaders of consumer activism groups from multiple nations to meet and engage with one another for the first time. Through these activities, Hermine advanced the global conversation and understanding of pregnant women’s human rights, and the realities and dysfunctions that women face in maternity care around the world. At the same time, she acquired international expertise in the intersection of law, human rights, health systems, obstetrics, midwifery, and childbirth, which she now applies to her work for organizations seeking to improve their understanding of these complex systems.