Mennonite Midwife Behind Bars: A Case of Overreach

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Mennonite Midwife Behind Bars: A Case of Overreach

By: Benjamin Wiker

National Review Online

December 3, 2002

 

 

Original article

http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?

command=view & program=CSC & id=1309

 

Diminutive, soft-spoken, gray-haired inmate 17204 at Holmes County

Jail has been behind bars for over a month. She wears an orange

jumpsuit rather than her usual modest blue Mennonite dress. She

stays in a cellblock on the second floor. Heavy iron beds, vinyl

mattresses, metal sink, and toilet combination. No privacy. Most

annoying of all, for this quiet, prayerful 47-year-old are " the

blaring TV and the foul language from the girls. I'd appreciate

specific prayer concerning that. "

 

Who is this criminal? Freida M. Miller is a lay midwife. She's been

at it for 17 years, and delivered close to 2,000 babies. She was

named Midwife of the Year in 1998 by the Ohio Midwives Alliance. And

she has never lost a mother.

 

For Miss Miller, being a midwife is a vocation. " I think it was born

in me. I truly think to be a midwife, you have to have a calling

from God. It's not a job, it's a ministry. " It must be. She doesn't

charge for her services. Some patients give her a donation. Some

can't afford it. It's all the same to Freida Miller.

 

What, then, is her crime? Freida Miller is guilty of saving a life.

Nearly a year ago, on December 17, 2001, Miss Miller administered a

prescription drug, Pitocin, to Jan Joyal to stop excessive bleeding

after the successful home birth of Joyal's daughter Rebekah.

Standard procedure for any midwife or any doctor. But when the

bleeding failed to stop, she accompanied Joyal to Joel Pomerene

Hospital. There she revealed to the doctor on call that she had

administered Pitocin to stop the bleeding. That bit of honesty cost

Miss Miller her freedom.

 

If she had lived in one of the 19 states that officially recognize

midwives (and hence allow them to administer Pitocin), she would not

be in jail now. But the problem is that Ohio does not recognize lay

midwives.

 

It is not that lay midwives are illegal in Ohio, mind you. They are

quite legal. This is Amish and Mennonite country, and homebirthing

is part of their simple, Christian, rural way of life. In Holmes

County, where she is incarcerated, one in eight births was a

homebirth last year. The problem is that there is simply no law on

the books in Ohio that regulates lay midwives. So, there's no

regulatory body to which Miller and other midwives could go to get

permission to carry and administer Pitocin.

 

Here's the nasty catch-22. Without Pitocin, midwives like Miller

would be guilty of endangering their patients' lives. But

technically, Pitocin is a prescription drug that can only be

administered by qualified medical personnel. What's an Ohioan

midwife to do?

 

It is not even that Pitocin is dangerous. According to Faith Gibson,

executive director of the American College of Domiciliary

Midwives, " Pitocin, when administered in a postpartum situation

(i.e., after the baby is born) is one of the safest drugs in the

world, in fact safer than aspirin. " Gibson fired off a letter in

support of Miss Miller, commending her actions on behalf of her

patient as exemplary midwifery. " Frivolous prosecutions of midwives

are detrimental to the practical well being of mothers and babies. "

 

Even more ironic, is that there is actually a state bill, HB 477,

ready and waiting to clear up the whole problem. This bill fulfills

the 1998 recommendation of a special study council set up by the

Ohio's general assembly that " the practice of midwifery be legal in

Ohio and that any ambiguity in the law on this issue be resolved to

prevent prosecution of either direct-entry midwives [i.e., lay

midwives] or parents who choose to use direct-entry midwives. "

 

According to bill sponsor Rep. Diana Fessler (R., New Carlisle), a

former lay midwife, the silence of the law is dangerous. " Although

current state law includes a provision governing certified nurse-

midwives, the law does not address the practice of midwifery by non-

nurse midwives. As a result, non-nurse midwives continue to be

concerned that an overzealous prosecutor could charge them with

practicing medicine without a license. "

 

They have good cause for concern. Freida Miller met not only an

overzealous prosecutor, but an equally overzealous judge.

Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Knowling and Holmes County Common Pleas

Judge Thomas D. White have nailed her with felony charges of

Unauthorized Practice of Medicine and Possession of Dangerous Drugs.

When Miss Miller refused to name the source from whom she got the

Pitocin, Judge White sent her to jail, and he shows no sign that he

is going to let her out — unless she'll squeal.

 

Even more maddening, Freida admitted not really understanding the

illegality of her possession and use of this harmless drug. All she

knew was that saving a life was her sacred duty as a midwife.

Witness the court transcripts from her original hearing on May 1,

2002.

 

JUSTICE WHITE: " Did you understand that that [administering Pitocin]

was a violation of Ohio law? "

 

MILLER: " Kind of. I should have understood. I should have checked it

out better. "

 

JUSTICE WHITE: " Okay. "

 

MILLER: " But I will bow my idea to a better one. "

 

JUSTICE WHITE: " In your opinion was that necessary to save her life? "

 

MILLER: " If we wouldn't have made it to the hospital fast enough,

yes. We might have been able to make it to the hospital fast enough,

but it would have been taking a chance. "

 

Commenting in a later interview, Miller said " I didn't really know

it was illegal…I wish I would have never used the stuff….If I wasn't

sure it was illegal, I'm not sure that I'm guilty….I don't really

know what the allegations are about; they're not specific enough. "

 

Is she angry about the seeming injustice? " The whole thing is

something God knows all about and he has a plan, " she says. " I don't

want to fight for anything, I just want to fit myself into God's

plan, and I'm not angry at anybody. "

 

But others are. It is very difficult not to be angry at a judge and

prosecutor who are going after this sweet, holy, and harmless

midwife as if she were guilty of peddling cocaine at the local

playground. What drives the seemingly unbalanced fervor with which

they have gone after this beautiful and beloved Mennonite midwife?

 

The fervor appears to have driven Judge White and company to extend

their powers into legally gray areas. On August 28, 2002, the Holmes

County Health Department arrived at the home of Freida Miller and

confiscated over 50 of her client records. After hundreds of

supporters of Miller showed up to pray at the courthouse, Judge

Miller threatened Miss Miller with a stiffer penalty if they should

dare to do so again.

 

He could use a crash course in democracy.

 

One suspects the judge has some power issues. Unfortunately, in the

last election — which occurred while Miss Miller was in jail — Judge

White ran unopposed.

 

Meanwhile, my wife, who is almost seven months pregnant, is without

a midwife. We're hoping Freida will be free by then.

 

— Benjamin Wiker, a fellow at the Discovery Institute, is the author

of Moral Darwinism: How We Became Hedonists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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