Direct entry midwifery can only be legalized by lies
Every year homebirth advocates in Missouri attempt to pass legislation legalizing direct entry midwifery and every year the legislation is defeated. So this year, homebirth advocates thought that they would try something new: lying.According to an article on the River Front Times website, Midwifery Bill Lives -- Thanks to Senator's Lies:
When I spoke with Loudon on Friday afternoon for this blog post, he said Democratic senator Chuck Graham of Columbia had successfully blocked passage of his proposed legislation, and that as a last resort he planned to attach the bill this week in the form of an amendment.Here's how homebirth lobbyist Mary Ueland, who was privy to the deception, rationalized it: "Nobody lied, nobody was dishonest, and nobody asked any questions."
The truth is that Loudon had already slipped it into the big health-insurance package the Senate passed on Thursday...
Loudon's fellow legislators might be seeking an apology as well. They overlooked the amendment because Loudon had cagily removed any mention of midwifery. Instead Section 376.1753 contains the word “tocological.”
That's a reference to “tocology” -- from the Greek tokos, meaning "childbirth" -- the practice of obstetrics or midwifery.
Loudon says midwife advocates found the word in an ACT test prep guide, which one of the families’ teenagers was studying.
Things did not end well for Senator Loudon:
Loudon ... lost his chairmanship of the Small Business, Insurance and Industrial Relations Committee, when Kirkwood Republican Mike Gibbons, pesident pro tem of the Senate, gave him the heave-ho.I find the whole incident quite fitting. Homebirth advocates routinely lie about the dangers of homebirth. Now they are lying about the legislation that they sponsor. The truth is so inconvenient, isn't it?
The Senate may yet find a way to repeal the provision that was passed last week.
Labels: midwifery
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