Hey, I'm Caroline. I'm new here, and also an aspiring midwife.
I agree that CNMs have a definite place in things, for women who are too high risk to birth at home, and right now, for women who are too scared of birth to give birth at home. I would like to see (and work towards) teaching women and the country that home is just as safer or safer than a hospital for low-risk women.
I too am leaning more towards becoming a DEM/CPM. However, I'd like to do clinic work in developing countries at some point, and well-woman care, which it seems like I need to be a CNM to do. (I've also thought about someday trying to start a program which sends midwives into areas that are lacking in pre-natal, peri-partum and post-partum care, places far away from clinics, and either teach local midwives adaptive techniques from western medicine that will help them better serve their communities within the best of their ability given their circumstances, or training local women to be midwives. I haven't done much research into it, but if there is a need, I would love to do that. Clinics are wonderful, but not everyone has access to them, and i would think training midwives in a village, who could then train women from their neighbooring villages or areas, and so on, would also serve a need.) I think I'll likely go the DEM route, however, as a matter of philosophy.