Here's an update to the Utah woman who was charged with murder for refusing a C-section. She's now plead guilty to lesser charges (child endangerment).

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Grassroots Network Message 404021
Press Release re Rowland's guilty plea

Dear Friends,

Melissa Ann Rowland, the Utah mother charged with murder over the still birth of one twin, has plead guilty to lesser charges. Below is a press release from a number of concerned people/organizations, including Citizens for Midwifery.

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Some additional information according to Lynn Paltrow (National Advocates for Pregnant Women): "Based on the promise of a quick release from jail, where she has been held since the day after her c-section and delivery, Ms. Rowland agreed to plead guilty to two counts of child endangering. She made this plea despite the fact that being pregnant and disobeying your doctor is not a crime in Utah and having a health problem during pregnancy is not a crime in Utah. (According to people at the court house, prosecutors' claims that the stillborn infant tested positive for an illegal drug were not true making clear that this case rested solely on her alleged refusal to comply with doctor's "orders")"

You may also be interested to read an op/ed piece from the Baltimore Sun: 'Protectors' of unborn put them in peril, pointing out the discrepancies between fetal-protection acts and the relaxing of environmental regulation of mercury, lead and other substances that absolutely are known to be hazardous to fetuses and young children.

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, gatekeeper

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 7, 2004

MELISSA ROWLAND GUILTY ON FALSE CHARGES
Women Demand to Know: Am I Next?

Contact:
Lorna Vogt (801) 608-4918

We are deeply disappointed but not surprised by Ms. Rowland's decision to enter a guilty plea today. Ms. Rowland was arrested and jailed the day after she had major surgery and experienced the loss of one of her two children. She had just had a c-section that required cutting through her skin, abdominal wall, abdominal muscle and her uterus. Following this procedure and her loss, she was taken to jail where she received neither appropriate medical care nor mental health services for her physical and emotional
trauma.

Melissa is a victim of an over-zealous prosecutor, misguided medical personnel, a failed health care system, and an abusive jail system. Given the fact that she faced months, if not years, in a dangerous jail setting while challenging an illegal prosecution, it is not be surprising that she saw pleading as the only way out of a horrible situation. Melissa was intimidated into a guilty plea by the injustice of the case against her.

"Melissa's decision does not establish precedent for future arrests. What it does do is establish the inhumanity of the prosecution and the abuse of state authority in intimidating this woman," states NOW, Utah Chapter President Andrea Moore-Emmett.

By intimidating Melissa into pleading guilty to two counts of child endangerment, the prosecutors are trying to escape the damage they have done to Melissa and justice in Utah. "They cut a deal with a frightened woman who has no resources and no money. They have hung her with two bogus felony charges instead of dropping all charges as the law would demand," said Utah Progressive Network director Lorna Vogt.

Faced with widespread criticism of the arrest, prosecutors and media launched a witch-hunt portraying Ms. Rowland as a selfish women who deserves criminal punishment. They invoked the media stereotype of the "crack baby," a medically inaccurate description of children born to women who are substance abusers, to convict Melissa.

Utah has the lowest rate of prenatal care in the nation. Melissa had all the risk factors associated with fetal mortality: previous c-sections, poverty, homelessness, unintended pregnancy, substance abuse, obesity, a lack of health insurance. There is no guarantee that an earlier c-section would have produced a better outcome for her and her child, but better prenatal care would have. Apparently, women are expected to deliver perfectly healthy babies even when they themselves have no health or prenatal care, counseling or access to mental health options.

The murder charges were wholly unsubstantiated. Prosecutors twisted Melissa's understandable fear of undergoing a c-section into a charge of "depraved indifference." This alone demonstrates their callous disregard for women.

"C-sections carry enormous risks for the mother and child. We all have the right to informed consent but just as important, to informed refusal. Forcing women to go under the knife to avoid lawsuits or longer deliveries is inhumane and a gross violation of our rights to bodily integrity," said Pam Udy, Vice-President of the International Caesarean Awareness Network. "Will I be arrested if I choose to have a vaginal birth rather than c-section?"

Doctors and nurses violated patient confidentiality when they apparently released private patient information to the police and press. These actions deserve condemnation. We can only hope that other hospital patients do not have to fear that when they go to their doctors everything they say will be used against them in a court of law, and if they disagree with their doctor's advice they will be arrested. If we turn medical exam rooms into interrogation chambers and doctors into law enforcement officers, we will destroy the trusting relationships required for good maternal outcomes.

Ms. Rowland's plea today in no way ends our commitment to challenging this disgraceful abuse of prosecutorial authority and of unconstitutional application of state law. We represent a broad and diverse range of people from local LDS midwives to women concerned about Caesareans, from women's advocates to mental and public health experts. All of us agree that a pregnant woman must be allowed to determine her birth options. What happened to Melissa Rowland could happen to any other woman in Utah. Today many women are wondering "Am I next?"

Pam Udy, International Caesarean Awareness Network (801) 479-9804
Luciano Colonna, Harm Reduction Project (801) 635-7736
Andrea Moore-Emmett, National Organization for Women, Utah Chapter (801) 560-4242
Susan Vogel, Code Pink (801) 532-2651
Lorna Vogt, Utah Progressive Network (801) 466-0955
Robin Boon, Utah Progressive Network
Bonnie Macri, JEDI for Women
Mormon Feminist Network
Vicki Cottrell, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (801) 323-9900
Susan Hodges, President of Citizens for Midwifery www.cfmidwifery.org