Gloria Lemay
A heroine in the Family Birth Community has been arrested.
Here is some of the FREE portion of Yolanda’s Substack post on the story of Gloria’s arrest.
Everyone go subscribe to her now so we can organize some direct actions to help Gloria with her legal bills.
Midwifery is Dead. Long Live Birth Sovereignty
On January 7th, traditional birth attendant Gloria Lemay was arrested and charged with manslaughter on Vancouver Island.
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I met Gloria in the year 2000 when I was 19 years old, and pregnant with my first child. She attended the birth of my first baby in 2001, and my second baby in 2003.
Gloria is one the most inspiring midwifery teachers—and people—on the planet. I consider her to be one of my primary mentors, and a dear friend. She has been immensely supportive to me over the years, especially when I was beginning my own career in birth-work.
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I loved Gloria from the moment she welcomed me into her sunny South Granville apartment. Her wisdom, her respect, her love for birth, mothers, and babies, and her steadfast devotion to me as a young pregnant mother altered the course of my life. She introduced me to my power, and to the very idea of self-ownership.
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Throughout my 50-hour long first birth (at almost 44 weeks’ gestation), Gloria sat quietly by my side and mopped my brow while I screamed, wept, begged for mercy, then finally, after 8 hours of pushing, roared my beautiful boy into the world. In doing the nothing that was necessary during my initiation into motherhood, Gloria gave me everything.
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In late July of 2002, fifteen months after my first son’s tempestuous arrival, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a crowd of other mothers, fathers, and children outside the Vancouver courthouse in support of Gloria as she was sentenced to five months in jail and twelve months’ probation for supposedly violating a court injunction prohibiting her from practicing midwifery without a license.
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I had travelled with my toddler that morning from the Sunshine Coast across the Georgia Strait on a ferry, and taken two public buses to join over a hundred people in support of this woman who had witnessed and held so many of us during the spiritual transformation of birth that had created our families.
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The atmosphere at Robson Square was celebratory and defiant. We knew exactly what this was.
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It was a witch-hunt.
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And like most witch-hunts, there was no witch—only a woman whose true power and courage represented an immense threat to the repressive, tyrannical cult of medicine.
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During the court proceedings, Gloria was referred to as “incorrigible.” She responded by saying “I hope I am incorrigible. I hope that until the day I die, I fight for women’s freedom to have who they want in their own bedroom to help them give birth to their baby.”
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It was reported that soon after arriving in prison, Gloria was threatened with solitary confinement “after she offered comfort to a pregnant woman” who was serving time alongside her.
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When I spoke with Gloria six months later, after her release, she told me that jail had been a wonderful opportunity to continue right along with the work to which she had committed her life.
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Incorrigible indeed.
Gloria’s website 🌎 Wise Women Way of Birth is HERE!
https://wisewomanwayofbirth.com
I grabbed a few photos from Gloria’s Facebook Page
About
Some of my passions are:
*holistic education of midwives and doulas
*keeping baby boys intact
*home birth
*breastfeeding
*health & wellness
I am a contributing editor of Midwifery Today Magazine. I am an Advisory Board member of Intact America and International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN).
I am a keynote speaker at childbirth conferences and have traveled throughout N. America and Australia teaching midwifery. I live on Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
Email: waterbirthinwoman@gmail.com
Facebook: Gloria Lemay
Twitter: birthsage
Instagram: birthsage888