A Woodstock woman who ran an unlicensed midwifery business was found guilty on all nine counts she faced Wednesday, stemming from a 2022 home birth that left a new mother fighting for her life. Cynthia “Cindy” Rene Morrow, 64, administered Pitocin, inserted a catheter and performed a manual uterine procedure despite holding no license as a physician, nurse or certified nurse midwife, according to prosecutors. The mother ended up in hypovolemic shock, vomiting and unconscious, after losing roughly half her blood.
According to Atlanta News First, the birth took place at a Woodstock home in 2022, and Morrow did not tell the woman's family she was experiencing a medical emergency even as her condition worsened. When Morrow finally called 911, she requested a non-emergency medical transport rather than flagging the severity of what was happening inside the home, the outlet reported.
A Medical Emergency Downplayed
By the time emergency crews arrived, the woman's blood pressure had dropped to 63/55 and her heart rate had climbed to 139 beats per minute, prosecutors said, according to the same report. Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services treated her at the scene before transporting her to a hospital, where she received emergency treatment for a severe postpartum hemorrhage. Medical experts who testified at trial said that based on her condition, she should have been taken to a hospital at least five hours earlier, per the station's report.
As detailed by WKRC, Morrow operated under the name Birth Servant Midwifery LLC, and the charges against her stemmed directly from that business. Prosecutors told jurors she performed medical procedures she was not legally authorized to conduct, including giving intravenous fluids in addition to the Pitocin injection, catheter insertion and manual uterine procedure described in the case.
More Than 100 Pieces of Evidence
Prosecutors presented more than 100 pieces of evidence during the trial, the article notes, including the 911 call, medical records, business client logs, cellphone records and license documentation establishing that Morrow held no credentials to practice as a physician, nurse or certified nurse midwife. Investigators had searched Morrow's Woodstock home under a search warrant in 2024, recovering expired Pitocin, needles, sutures, intravenous supplies and other medical equipment, the same account states.
Two additional former clients and their relatives described separate incidents involving Morrow's midwifery services outside Cherokee County during the proceedings. One of those women nearly died during childbirth, while the other lost her baby, per the same account. Morrow was convicted on nine counts total, and her sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 10.
A Rising Trend in Home Births
The case lands amid a broader shift toward home deliveries. Intended home births rose by 42% nationally from 2020 to 2024, and by 72% in Georgia over that same span, according to KFF Health News. Home births still make up just 1.5% of deliveries nationwide, and about 11% of planned home births end in a hospital transfer, the outlet reported.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists cites studies finding that infants are twice as likely to die during planned births at home or in birth centers as in hospitals, while acknowledging that the data remains limited, according to Georgia Recorder. Morrow's conviction is expected to draw renewed attention to how Georgia regulates — or fails to regulate — those who assist with deliveries outside a hospital setting ahead of her sentencing next week.
