[christopheraden]

> I feel like this argument should be a class of fallacy. Lots of things have "existed" for a long time, but that doesn't mean previous iterations were effective.

This is pretty close to Survivorship Bias (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias). Outcomes of midwifery of yore is no different than present midwifery if you ignore the fatalities and only focus on successful deliveries.