(Page 164) I work with Dr. Wallace and the Home Birth Advisory Committee designing our midwifery legislation into something that is satisfactory to everyone, well…almost everyone. Many of the state’s physicians are still in vehement opposition. They want midwifery to be outlawed outright, even though they have no facts or figures to support their claims that midwifery is dangerous. We have created “enabling legislation” that puts the onus of later developing the Rules and Regulations back on a Midwifery Advisory Committee which works directly with the Director of Public Health Services. The proposed six member Advisory Committee consists of a pediatrician, an obstetrician, a nurse-midwife, two lay midwives and a member of the general public who has had a home birth. This sounds fabulous to me. The day comes for our midwifery bill to be heard in Legislative Committee and we do the whole circus all over again. Little kids are running around with balloons that say, “I Was Born At Home”. Many visibly pregnant women have come to defend their right to choose their place of birth. At least this time the proposed statute is a good one. Some physicians troop in to testify in opposition of midwives in general. I am astounded to see Dr. Faith fill out a “In Support” card. He turns to wink at me and gives me a thumbs up. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks after all. The first physician to speak in opposition to our bill is Dr. Windsor, a British obstetrician practicing in the Seacoast area. He is the Chairman of the NH Chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Windsor is an impressive looking man, very regal and tweedy with a full shock of white hair. But the minute he opens his mouth, he inserts his foot. He stands grandly and states in his charming English accent that all of the babies who are born at home have suffered varying degrees of brain damage due to incompetence during the birth process. This is an excellent mistake. What Dr. Windsor does not realize is that half of New Hampshire’s legislators are so old…they have all been born at home, before the popular exodus to hospitals for deliveries occurred in the Forties. The legislators stare at him in disbelief at his rudeness. Dr. Windsor has, in fact, inferred that they are all, to some degree, brain damaged. I am loving this. ~from LADYS HANDS, LOINS HEART, A MIDWIFES SAGA, Bad Beaver Publishing, 2010.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 00:04:32 +0000
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