MIDWIVES ARRESTED...

in the Ozarks....

Mau Blossom, a registered nurse who has been serving as the only midwife in a 120-mile arca in the Ozarks, has been arrested on charges that carry penalties of a jail term and fines up to $1,000 · (charges and number of counts have not been specified).

She has won a continuance of the trial, but she now faces new charges in another county. To support her defense, send contributions as soon as possible to:

"

Susan Keller

P. O. Box 674

Van Buren, MO 63965

"

and in California

(National Women's Health Network)--On July 24, Marianne Doshi, a lay midwife in San Luis Obispo, California, was indicted on two felony counts: second degree murder and practicing medicine without a license. The physicians and hospitals are trying to use Marianne to intimidate midwives and to convince parents that home birth is unsafe.

A few months ago, a proposed law that would have licensed lay midwives was defeated in the California legislature. The California Medical Association passed a resolution against physicians' attendance at home births. If this latest attack on home birth is successful, the availability of home birth in California and in the rest of the country could be seriously affected.

San Luis Obispo is a small town located between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Two years ago, physicians there tried unsuccessfully to bring charges against the parents of a baby that had died in a home birth. Under the leadership of the county health officer, the physicians agreed not to provide any backup for home birth, even in an emergency situation. Meanwhile, parents in the area, faced with routine fetal heart monitoring, drugs and unnecessary intervention at the two hospitals that have maternity wards, continued to choose home births.

Christine and Bob Gannage, after consulting a physician who, like other physicians in the area, refused to attend home births, asked Marianne Doshi to be present. The baby was not breathing when it was born and was taken immediately to a hospital. The mother, Christine Gannage, was refused care, but the baby was accepted. It was then transported by plane to Mt. Zion Hospital in San DamagĄ MABat Ohe,Wantd/Défiber, 19780

Francisco, 22 miles away, where it died 5 days later.

The investigation was apparently initiated by Dr. Mienke, the head of obstetrics and gynecology at General Hospital, one of the two hospitals which are threatened by the growing popularity of home birth. A month later, authorities broke into Marianne Doshi's home, confiscated her papers and arrested

her.

The local newspaper covered Marianne's arrest in a very biased manner; consequently, many of the citizens of San Luis Obispo probably have already

decided that she is guilty and that home birth is dangerous. Nevertheless, at Marianne's arraign ment, the courtroom was packed with her support ers, including many parents of home-born babies. The Marianne Doshi Defense Committee would appreciate hearing from all of their supporters, at

Marianne Doshi Defense Committee P. O. Box 522

San Luis Obispo, CA 93406

WOMEN UNITE-TAKE BACK THE NIGHT

Boston (LNS). Most women know the fear of walking alone at night: the carefully planned routes that involve as few stretches of dark, empty street as possible, and those taken at a gallop, hearts beating hard; or the routes never taken at all for fear that something might happen, or because something already has. It is a fear so basic to so many women that after awhile it alters our lives without our realizing it any more.

A group of women in Boston decided this summer to organize to take back the night," as women have in other cities. The plan was to march together through the streets of Boston on a Saturday night in August, the month when the national incidence of rape is greatest. Posters proclaiming "Women Unite--Take Back The Night" were plastered all over the city in the weeks before. Come nightfall, August 26, some 1,500 to 2,000 women were gathered at Kenmore Square with drums and whistles, loud voices and beautiful banners.

For over two hours the blocks-long march wended its way down some of the scariest residential and commercial streets in Boston after dark, and some. that are frightening even in the daytime. The spirit was exhilarating and the chants delivered with deep feeling: "No More Fear When We Walk Through Here;" or "'Yes Means Yes, No Means No, However We're Dressed, Wherever We Go" or the evening's favorite, "Women Unitel Take Back the Night,'' sung to a Latin rhythm. People were literally dancing in the streets and the overwhelming feeling was that the march was right on target, right down to the fifteen minute snake through the Fens, a Boston park normally off limits to women at night. GIVING WOMEN CREDIT:

Periodically the marchers emerged onto Boston's main thoroughfares. Marshalls leafleted women along the route; loud applause and cheers went up whenever a woman joined in. The marchers were mostly in their twenties and thirties, but a Mash of recognition and support lit up many an older woman's face as the marchers passed. People waved from their apartment windows and a group of women hanging out the window of a martial arts classroom nearly fell out in their excitement.

Some men along the way reacted hostilely to the women, but for the most part their mouths were dropped open in surprise. And at several points along the way, men supporting the marchers stood silently by the side of the road holding candles, and signs that read "Help Light the Way Against Violence."

At about ten o'clock, the marchers arrived at Copley Square for a rally that featured speakers from several Boston area women's projects: Transition House, a refuge for battered women; the Coalition to Stop Institutional Violence; Rosie's Place, a drop-in and shelter for homeless women; Committee to End Sterilization Abuse; Ahortion Action Coalition; Prostitutes Union of Massachusetts; Women Against Violence Against Women; Alliance Against Sexual Coercion, an advocacy group for wornen harassed at jobs; and others.

The Coalition To Take Back the Night includes representatives from many of these groups as well as individual women, It plans to continue meeting to work together to combat "all aspects of violence against women."

REQUEST YOUR OWN CREDIT HISTORY

A majority of women interviewed by Commer. cial Credit in 18 cities had little or no awareness of their credit rights or of the importance of having credit in their own names. Married women are most apathetic.

Under regulations carrying out the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, credit-granting organizations were required to mail notices to customers by last October, informing all users of credit cards of their right to have credit information in credit reports reported in the names of both husbands and wives. More than $10 million such notices went out, according to the Commercial Credit Co., and they contained simple forms to be signed and mailed back if the separate listings of both names was desired. Overall, only 9 percent of women sharing joint accounts requested that their names be listed separately, according to a survey done by the company. Only 16 percent of the major bank card users responded.

The new law was created to have credit information on joint accounts reported in the names of both husband and wife. A major reason for this was to ensure that credit histories would be available for women who became divorced or widowed.

For those who wish to make the change, the procedure is simple. Send a letter to each creditor stating the following: "When you furnish credit information on this account, please report all 'information concerning the account in both our names." Include the account number, the printed or typed names of both card users and signature of either spouse.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits credit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age or having public assistance income. It specifically prohibits such discriminatory practices as: refusing credit because of change in marital status; refusing married women a separate account even though they would qualify if single; demanding financial infor mation about a spouse when the applicant is individually credit-worthy: refusing to consider alimony and child support as incorfie; refusing to consider a wife's income when a couple applies for joint credit; asking about an applicant's birth control practices or childbearing plans.

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Ohio Report

Vol. 4, No. 3