By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – A provision of a new law that legalized midwifery in Missouri has been struck down by Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce. She ruled that the midwives language inserted into a health insurance bill went beyond the bill's original purpose and title.
Jeff Howell with the Missouri State Medical Association agrees with the decision, "Where the state regulates people that cut your hair and do your nails, they wouldn't regulate people that would deliver babies instead, you could theoretically, under the language of this bill, have your baby delivered by someone who hasn't graduated high school."
Mary Ueland (of the Missouri Midwives Association is unhappy with the decision, "Around the world and across the country, it's been demonstrated, you know, in 40 other states, that midwifery is safe, and it's cost-effective health care for people and it's just wrong to criminalize one health care provider and not allow health care consumers the choice to choose who they want to deliver their babies."
The Missouri Midwives Association is appealing Judge Joyce's ruling to the State Supreme Court.