Legislation
I hate politics... I really, really hate politics.
Oklahoma has long been an alegal state in regards to midwifery, meaning that it was neither legal nor illegal. There was nothing governing the practice in the state at all.
Apparently sometime in the last year or so a woman from the Church of the Firstborn died shortly after birth. She bled out from a retained placenta piece, something that easily could have been treated with a midwife or doctor. However, the Church of the Firstborn doesn't believe in using doctors, they are faith healers. So rather than seek medical attention they prayed over her. The women that attended her birth call themselves midwives (or so I've been told) although they do no clinical assessment, they simply pray. At any rate, the woman's family contacted a state senator and requested that something be done. The response was to legislate midwifery. An initial bill was proposed and a local midwife is meeting with the senator to get the language significantly changed.
The problem with all this is that it's not going to do a thing about the issue that the senator was contacted for. This group can continue to practice the way that they do under religious exemption laws.
I'm feeling extremely frustrated, having just decided on my educational path, one that I could manage and afford and now it appears that I will be forced to sit the NARM's test and be a CPM which means registering with that national organization and then with the state organization. I have LONG felt that I needed to avoid being registered anywhere. I'm just praying that the language won't completely exclude the practice of midwifery without registering with the state. I feel like I'm going to end up in quite the quandary, either I register and go against what I think is my conscious, or possible loose respect among the midwifery community in the area. I also feel like my hands are tied, because I'm not currently a midwife I really don't have much of a voice, but this is going to drastically affect my future as a midwife.
Oklahoma has long been an alegal state in regards to midwifery, meaning that it was neither legal nor illegal. There was nothing governing the practice in the state at all.
Apparently sometime in the last year or so a woman from the Church of the Firstborn died shortly after birth. She bled out from a retained placenta piece, something that easily could have been treated with a midwife or doctor. However, the Church of the Firstborn doesn't believe in using doctors, they are faith healers. So rather than seek medical attention they prayed over her. The women that attended her birth call themselves midwives (or so I've been told) although they do no clinical assessment, they simply pray. At any rate, the woman's family contacted a state senator and requested that something be done. The response was to legislate midwifery. An initial bill was proposed and a local midwife is meeting with the senator to get the language significantly changed.
The problem with all this is that it's not going to do a thing about the issue that the senator was contacted for. This group can continue to practice the way that they do under religious exemption laws.
I'm feeling extremely frustrated, having just decided on my educational path, one that I could manage and afford and now it appears that I will be forced to sit the NARM's test and be a CPM which means registering with that national organization and then with the state organization. I have LONG felt that I needed to avoid being registered anywhere. I'm just praying that the language won't completely exclude the practice of midwifery without registering with the state. I feel like I'm going to end up in quite the quandary, either I register and go against what I think is my conscious, or possible loose respect among the midwifery community in the area. I also feel like my hands are tied, because I'm not currently a midwife I really don't have much of a voice, but this is going to drastically affect my future as a midwife.
Labels: midwifery
posted by Babylady at 11:47 PM
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