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Story: Pregnancy, birth and baby care

Midwife and baby, 1990

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Midwife and baby, 1990

From 1990, as a result of a law amendment, midwives could manage pregnancies and births alone. The number of independent midwives grew significantly as a result. Midwife Jenny Johnson helped to deliver Titapu Pairama Lewington not long before the law was amended by Parliament.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1990/2951a/9

by Ross Giblin

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, Pregnancy, birth and baby care – Childbirth, 1950s to 1980s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/26171/midwife-and-baby-1990 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 31 May 2011.