Midwife Takes Plea
As an update to this post, the Indy Star reports today that the midwife (Jennifer Williams) has decide to accept a plea:
Jennifer Louisa Williams, 54, Bloomington, will not go to prison, but instead agreed to a year’s probation and to not practice midwifery or medcine during that year, according to Shelby County Prosecutor R. Kent Apsley.
Williams said in an e-mail sent to news media, “I have decided to accept the plea deal offered by Shelby County in order to end this prosecution, which has been haunting my life for the last year. By accepting the plea, I can spare my supporters and family and myself the emotional toll and financial expense of a long drawn-out trial, and appeals.”
Link.
The article mentions the lawsuit she filed against the attorney general seeking to clarify Indiana law regarding midwives, but does not indicate whether the suit will be maintained by Ms. Williams.
For broader coverage on this issue, I recommend you head over to The Mommy Blawger, a site I discovered when she posted a comment to my last post on the subject.
June 15th, 2006 15:41
I did look at the Mommy Blawger site. Interesting stuff. I’m still curious as to why or how operating as a “direct-entry midwife” could be legal in Indiana. Anyone care to answer that question? Not a dare or a challenge, I just want to know.
June 16th, 2006 04:11
Mr. Kemp - thanks for the link. The suit will indeed be maintained by Ms. Williams. Several other Indiana midwives are, I believe, joining the suit.
Pila - I answered your comment on the other post, but the short answer is: Operating as a direct-entry midwife is legal in Indiana because Indiana has not passed legislation making it illegal.
Of course, you could look at it the opposite way: the practice of midwifery is illegal because Indiana has not authorized it. Or it is illegal because you can (apparently) be prosecuted for it, regardless of the existence of legislation.
Midwives and midwifery supporters have long, long debates about the meaning of words such as “legal” and “illegal” and “alegal”. Trust me.
June 16th, 2006 08:43
I’m sorry, but I haven’t checked the other post yet. Please accept my apology if I came off as rude. I find this topic interesting.
Thanks for your answer.
June 16th, 2006 11:12
[...] There is an interesting discussion in the comments to my midwife posts (read here and this post) about the legal status of unlicensed midwives in Indiana. So called “direct entry” midwives practice arts aiding women in traditions that go back before written history. Many feel that the government has no role in regulating the activities of these midwives, but that’s not how government works. [...]
June 17th, 2006 17:19
Pila - I did not take your comments as being rude.
And I did not realize at first that it was Ms. Williams’ attorney who had left comments to the previous post on this subject. As I have no direct involvement in the lawsuit, it probably was not my place to jump in with an update on the case’s status.