WHO WE ARE

Cardinal Birth Midwifery & Advocacy Group started as a small doula & birth advocacy business in 2013 in Southeastern PA, owned by Abigail Iovine. Abigail is the founder of Cardinal Birth, and mother of ten.

After the birth of Abby’s 4th child in hospital, the devotion to women’s autonomy and traditional and religious practice was born, followed by years of training and apprenticeships and six more personal births at home (three midwife-guided & three unassisted) and a model of care was brought forth that honors the women, the family, & the Creator’s design.

After years of advocacy, community birth work, and midwifery apprenticeships- Cardinal Birth became a private midwifery practice in 2018.

We proudly support families seeking a midwife from Northeast PA in the Poconos, to Philadelphia, the Main Line, Newtown, Yardley, Richboro, Washington Crossing, and surrounding communities.

CARDINAL BIRTH MIDWIFERY

Traditional Midwifery in Pennsylvania

A newborn baby sleeping on a gray surface with eyes closed, tiny features, and a relaxed expression.

WHY CHOOSE US?

We do things differently here.

Cardinal Birth is a concierge & high autonomy practice. Packages and fees reflect the care, attention, and availability that come with it. Discounts are available for military, clergy, first responders, and returning families. Low-income discounts are considered case by case.

Every pregnancy is sacred from the moment of conception. We do not offer or refer for abortion. Support for early pregnancy loss is part of our care. We walk with families in miscarriage and grief, offering faith-based, non-clinical support and prayerful companionship.

We believe in collaborative, non-hierarchical support. You are not handing over your care. We share the risk assessment with you. Parents remain the decision makers.

We believe in informed consent and refusal. If we cannot provide the autonomous care you are seeking, we will say so and guide you as far as we are able. Mothers are the primary decision-makers. No one knows or loves your baby more than you do.

We share clear information, spiritual encouragement, and room to decide what is best for your family.

LEGAL NOTICE:

These are traditional midwifery services, not state-licensed medical care. Pennsylvania does not license traditional midwives. Cardinal Birth is not a licensed medical provider. Families who hire us are choosing this model with that disclosed.

The word cardinal represents a profound importance.

This is birth. Birth is paramount. Birth is a cardinal moment in a family's existence.

Equally as profound, Northern Cardinals are a familiar and even nostalgic presence in Pennsylvania. They stand out with their crimson plumage, against the grey or snowy backdrop of chilly northeast winters.

That brilliant red cardinal cares for its nesting mate, feeding and supporting her, as she tends their nest, grows their babies, and transitions into motherhood.

This is in essence what a midwife lives for. Serving and caring for the pregnant woman & her family as they transition into a new family dynamic.

My goal is to offer you unparalleled care, so your birth stands out in your heart, as memorable, personal, and forever ingrained as a positive, supported, and informed experience.

Your birth matters.

Our Philosophy

Why the Cardinal?

A vibrant red cardinal bird with a black face mask, perched on a dark branch against a blurred green background.

CORE BELIEFS

I believe in the Creator’s perfect design. Pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting, were designed to work.

I believe the ADVERSARY is actively attacking our unborn.

The LORD YHWH designed us perfectly - the intricate dance of physiology to keep a pregnancy healthy, and to give birth, and nourish a newborn, to become parents, to raise a family, it is intricately designed.

When we hand over this sacred process of growing and carrying life, to MAN - the cascade of damage is devastating.

Routinely stopping and changing the physiological process of pregnancy and labor, STOPS the physiological safeguards in the design, that are meant to serve the mother/baby.

Routinely using drugs (pitocin) that mimic the love hormone but instead destroy the capacity for oxytocin GENERATIONALLY-

(yes it affects your babies)

&

Routinely separating newborns at birth,

has been proven to create a human with diminished capacity to love.

Teaching families to sleep apart from their babies, to stop nursing, not to trust their parental instincts, to send kids away be taught by the government... this destroys the designed family and human structure that would work, and should work.

THIS is the work of the ADVERSARY -

I believe in fully autonomous care for the family. Every decision belongs to the family, even in birth care.

I believe birth is a normal physiological event. I believe the body is a physiological powerhouse, and provides us with numerous safeguards, as we labor and birth, as long as we leave AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, untouched, and we make distinguished efforts to care for our bodies and babies with optimal nutrition.

I believe in Traditional Midwifery as the core for all birth care in human history.

There is no teaching, like the Art of Midwifery.

The Art of Normal Birth, quiet hands and mouths, patience for the process, an ear for the intuition of the laboring human and the attendant, and an eagle’s eye for what falls outside our parameters.

I believe in Evidence Based Maternity Care.

I believe it’s a human right, right to choose with whom, where and how you give birth.

I believe birth and the decisions therein, belong only to the family.

I believe providers owe complete transparency to their clients and the community.

Sun setting behind leafless bushes and trees with a colorful sky.

Where we Serve

  • Philadelphia & Greater Philadelphia

  • Main Line (Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Ardmore, Lower Merion, Gladwyne, Wynnewood, Devon)

  • Bucks County (Newtown, Yardley, Furlong, Richboro, Washington Crossing, New Hope)

  • Chestnut Hill & surrounding PA towns

  • Pocono Mountains, Pa

  • Lehigh Valley, Pa

TEAM MEMBERS

Our backup and assistant midwives & our students are carefully selected by the midwives and the community.

These providers have years of experience, and have been integral in building the birth community over the last decade, and across the state.

A woman taking a selfie with her dog, both smiling and close together interior setting.

DAISY

Student Midwife & Admin

Daisy is part of the Cardinal Birth team.

A woman with short, wavy brunette hair, wearing gold earrings and makeup, sitting inside a car with a view of trees outside.

LISETTE

Senior Apprentice Midwife

Lisette is part of the Cardinal Birth team.