The Fellowship of the Bill – Part 7

This is the continuing story of Michigan’s nine-year journey toward a law to license Certified Professional Midwives. The first installment of the story is HERE.

Part 7

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Many others assisted the Coalition. The Big Push (see Page 1) was particularly helpful with both collective wisdom from other states and specific strategy and legal knowledge from Susan Jenkins, Big Push steering committee member and legal advisor (Frame 1). Likewise, Ida Darragh of NARM (North American Registry of Midwives) seemed to hold every licensed state’s education and training requirements in her head (Frame 2). Other direct entry midwives were generous with their advice and questions (Frame 3).

On the other hand, certain factions promised to oppose the bill no matter what, including a notorious national troll who had for years attacked midwives, home birth, physiological birth – anything that deviated from the standard medical model of care (Frames 4 and 5). Like many Jekyll-and-Hyde pontificators – or, in this case, Sméagol-and-Gollum ones – this troll typically appears with a wish to protect the safety of mothers and babies that quickly metamorphoses into vicious diatribes against midwives.

The ultimate wild card, however, was a local health care provider who opposed the CPM bill on the principle that licensure constituted government interference. She herself, of course, was licensed by the state (Frame 6). She is represented here as a hairdresser, to spare her real profession from embarrassment. The pile of Petoskey Stones behind her is included as Michigan Content.

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