KWMU is reporting that a judge this morning temporarily barred a law that would let lay midwives deliver babies in Missouri.
Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce has issued a temporary restraining order against the midwives law. She scheduled an Aug. 2 hearing to consider a preliminary injunction. The bill is scheduled to take effect on Aug. 28.
The midwives provision was secretly attached by state Sen. John Loudon (R-Chesterfield) to legislation intended to make health insurance more affordable and accessible to some Missourians.
Several doctors groups sued. They claim the midwife language violates the Missouri Constitution by going beyond the bill’s health insurance title and by changing the bill’s original purpose.
Midwifery is currently punishable by prison time in Missouri.
Here is an interview we did with Sen. Loudon shortly after the controversy broke:
July 4th, 2007 at 11:25 am
I asked a lawyer about temporary restraining orders—(it was a question related to the decison to deny one to the slps to stop the takeover).
The lawyer said that tro’s are extraordinarily difficult to obtain—-that it was not necessarily an indication of how the judge would eventually rule.
So when I saw the news that a tro was granted to stop the sinister forces of midwifery—-I wondered—-is the granting of a tro (very difficult to obtain)—an indication that the wishes of the doctors will be fulfilled, and the law overturned?