Gloria Lemay, Symbol of the Spirit of Births
Freely Given
Gloria
Lemay, Pivate Birth Attendant, midwifery
teacher.
Gloria Lemay is a private birth attendant in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She has
attended over 1000 women in her twenty-three
years of service, and is loved and popular among
her clients and their families. She is a sought-after
speaker at midwifery conferences worldwide,
and is highly regarded in the birth community
for her wide breadth of knowledge regarding
natural childbirth- and the devastating effects
of its medical alternatives.
On this page is information about the injunction
that was brought against Gloria Lemay by the
College of Midwives of BC.
For information about the College's current
witch hunt, go here.
2/2/2000- Victory for Gloria! (for
the most part)
A coup has been scored for women's rights in
BC! Gloria Lemay's injunction hearing was heard
on 2/2/00 in Vancouver, Canada. And while the
College of Midwives succeeded in getting an
order passed that prohibits Gloria from calling
herself a registrant of the College of Midwives
of BC, Gloria can indeed lawfully attend births
and receive payment for her services. Gloria's
lawyer, Ray Chouinard, stated at the onset of
the hearing that women have won the rights to
use birth control and to have abortions on demand;
it is only logical that women must also have
the power to choose where and with whom they
will give birth. Now British Columbia women
can freely choose their birth attendant, and
know their choice is protected by precedent
of law. A robust RIGHT ON for Gloria, and for
the free-thinking, birth-loving women of BC!
Here is a post Gloria sent to her supporters
about her day in court:
> From: Gloria Lemay <gloria_lemay@ultranet.ca>
> Organization: Childbirth Central
> Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 13:53:40 -0800
For those of you who have been following my
Court activities with the B.C. College of Midwives,
today went very well. At 9:00 a.m. we had a
Drum Circle on the front steps of the B. C.
Law Courts building. Little girls wearing signs
saying "Keep Your Laws Off My Body",
"My Mom Had an Illegal Home Birth and I'm
Proud of it" etc. We went into Court at
10 a.m. I had been praying for a male judge.
I find women are so brutal to other women in
court and men just seem to get this whole birth
thing so much better. Well, we got Judge Curtis,
bless him. My lawyer (a man whose wife is a
midwife, 7 kids) told the Judge that women have
struggled in Canada to be allowed access to
birth control, to be allowed to decide whether
or not to keep a pregnancy and they should be
allowed to decide with whom they will give birth
in the privacy of their own home should they
choose to have that baby. The judge agreed.
He has granted an injunction to the College
of Midwives preventing me from holding myself
out to be a registrant of the College. This
is something I have NEVER done nor would ever
do so it's fine by me. He said that anyone can
go to a birth and help out for a fee. The lawyer
for the College of Midwives, at one point inadvertently
referred to me as Ms. Midwife--shows how easy
it is to slip and use that forbidden word. No
costs were levied. I am permitted to be a midwifery
teacher. I am one happy " Private Birth
Attendant."
Our one-word context for this whole exercise
was "Integrity". It really paid off
and I'm really proud of my lawyers and myself.
Thanks for all the prayers, moral support and
$ contributions. We raised a little over $1600
to pay for this and I think it will now open
up the possibility of more women in the province
returning to their jobs as birth attendants.
I'm so grateful to not be in debt at the end
of all of this.
My heart fills with love and gratitude for
all the support.
T H A N K Y O U.
Gloria
"The state has no place in the bedrooms
of the nation."
-Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister,
1968-79, 1980-84
"Every organized profession is a conspicacy
against the laity."
-George Bernard Shaw
Letter from Jan Tritten to
Gloria, just before the hearing:
"I will be praying for a
good outcome in your court date. You are so
brave, like the civil rights fighters fighting
for our freedom. I sometimes get tired fighting
in our culture for the freedom to birth but
know we must keep it up. There are so few of
us. You are one of the most honorable women
I know. Thank you for your strengh and perseverance.
I love you dearly."
Love, Jan Tritten,
Editor, Midwifery Today Magazine
Cleick to view the relevant part of the
page
To see what sort of births the BC government
wants for women, go
to this page.
Information About The Case
A summary of the case
-excerpted from a letter Gloria sent to her supporters.
Here is where the College's allegations that Gloria
Lemay is a threat to public safety can be viewed.
Gloria Lemay:
A Threat to Public Safety or an Activist For Women's
Rights? by Cathy Allison. An article written
by one of the women whose affidavits made the
difference for Gloria.
The Affidavit of
Cathy Allison
Read the affidavit that turned the tide: Cathy
Allison was present at the waterbirth information
night that was also attended by Ann Rose, the
RN who was apparantly working "undercover"
for the College of Midwives of BC. Her affidavit
provided reasonable doubt regarding the credibility
of the College's case against Gloria Lemay.
Affidavit of Elizabeth
Thaddeus
A registered nurse responds to allegations
that Gloria is an unsafe birth attendant. This
page includes links to attachments used (about
vaccines and cord clamping) in Gloria's support.
Affidavit of Tobin Thomas
Copley
By a father whose two homebirths were attended
by Gloria. He is a medical geographer and research
associate at the Center for Health Services and
Policy Research at the University of British Columbia;
and he has had less-than optimal interactions
with the College of Midwives.
Affidavit of Natalie
Penny Gold
Here is the affidavit sworn by the mother whose
birth was attended by, as she puts it, "a
spy" for the College of Midwives of British
Columbia. The spy was a doula who was acting under
the auspices of being Natalie's longtime friend-
yet was apparently taking part in the birth in
order to entrap Gloria Lemay. The mother is outraged
that her birth was being used for political reasons.
Read a letter Gloria
sent to her friends and supporters on the day
after the hearing.
Letters written in Gloria's
support
Penny Priddy was, at the time, the BC Minister
of Health. The new Minister is Corky
Evans.
Philip Clement's Letter
to Penny Priddy
Includes mention of how registered massage therapists
could not have a legal stranglehold on the word
"massage".
Pamela Golliet's letter
to Penny Priddy "Let's stop the witch
hunt and begin to work together towards a common
goal."
LLM's
letter to Penny Priddy Do women really want
midwives practically mandated to perform amniotomies
and episiotomies?
Letter from Doreen
Carlson to Penny Priddy "There are women
who can provide appropriate and safe care for
mothers, babies, and their families. Gloria Lemay
is one of them. I urge you to assist all families
by finding out what can be done to give women
more choices not less."
Letter to Gloria from Edda
West "My prayer is that your courage,
your passion and your sense of justice will ignite
all the disenfranchised, disempowered midwives
who have been pushed out of their sacred calling
and that they will find their voices, and their
inner strength to sound the death knell to this
tyranny."
Emails of Relevant Officials
and Contact People
It's important to make the following individuals
understand what our freedom to birth in our
own way means to us.
Corky
Evans, BC Minister of Health.
Jane Kilthei,
registrar of College of Midwives of BC.
Debbie
Clelland, External Relations Coordinator
of the Midwifery Task Force of BC. The MTF-
supposedly representing the interests of consumers-
is directly responsible for the current questionable
state of affairs for the College of Midwives;
they should be addressed alongside the College.
Sindi
Hawkins, MLA for the Okanagan and the
Liberal Health Critic should know of the public's
opinions of childbirth in BC. If you would prefer
to fax Ms. Hawkins, call Access B.C. at 660-2421,
and have them patch you through to her fax-
at (250) 387-2731.
Special for British Columbia Residents
Our elected officials should know that we care
about giving birth in safety and freedom; and
if we choose, away from governmental meddling.
Click here for a listing of the contact numbers
for all BC
Members of Parliament. If you're unsure about
what riding you live in, see
this map.
Write your MLA too. For the emails and standard
correspondence addresses of the BC Members of
the Legislative Assembly:
Click here for alphabetical listing of MLA
by constituency.
Click here for alphabetical listing of MLA
by name.
BirthLove Columns about Birth
in BC, with Letters of Support
The following columns were written for the
OBCNEWS, an online newsletter reaching midwives,
parents, doulas, and birth and breastfeeding
advocates internationally. The columns include
letters from the public written in Gloria's
support.
Annotating
a Sunset, and the Current Nonsense regarding
Gloria Lemay (2/1/00) Written before
Gloria went to court. A bit about my birth too.
My Body,
My Choice: An Offensive in the Defense of Gloria
Lemay (9/14/99) With letters written
to the Vancouver Sun newspaper editor in support
of Gloria.
Childbirth
in BC- Free, or Dictated by a Police State?
(9/21/99) With letters written to BC
Minister of Health and others in support of
Gloria, and women's freedom of choice.
The Hunt
Begins With Her (10/18/99) More about
the case, as well as information on what is
needed most to help protect women's birthing
rights in BC.
The Fight
for My Freedom Begins With Me (10/25/99)
"Regardless of what a bizarrely patriarchal
government midwifery cartel dictates, the choice
of who attends me in childbirth shall remain
my own..." Describes my day in court with
Gloria.
A Backround to the Passion
What began the passion that drove the website
author to protect Gloria.
Links to Pages about the
Superior Safety of "Lay Midwives"
For a complete listing of Gloria's online contributions
to birth, go to this
page.
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