By Any Means Necessary

I've put it off for a week, but I have to comment on the pending legislation for Missouri midwifery. I say pending because it has yet to be signed by the governor. It did pass the House and Senate and is expected to be signed. When the original bill failed to pass after yet another year of valiant effort, the sponsoring senator, simply slipped one line legalizing CPMs into an existing health insurance bill. It passed without the opposition knowing it was in there until after it passed. The language is as follows:

"Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any person who holds current ministerial or tocological certification by an organization accredited by the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA) may provide services as defined in 42 U. S. C.1396..."

Later, I found an article in our local paper about how this all came about. It displayed the sponsoring senator in a bad light and suggested his reputation was irreparably damaged by the bait and switch maneuver referencing tocology (the practice of midwifery or obstetrics). Of course the problem with this strategy is that two can play that game. The opposition is still trying to repeal the bill which has yet to be signed into law. As much as I wanted the original bill to pass, I'm having trouble justifying the means. I want a law that protects women as much as midwives. This wording gives the what but is lacking on the how. I'm not sure what this means for midwifery in Missouri or how it will all go down. But when I know, you'll know.