The shocking arrest of midwives in a rural healthcare desert leaves a community stranded, and spurs the emergence of a very unlikely group of fierce political activists – Amish and Mennonite women who break with their traditions to stand up and speak out for women’s reproductive rights.
SYNOPSIS
One by one, three midwives are arrested. They are trained, highly skilled midwives, beloved in their community of Amish and Mennonite women that relies on them for critical healthcare…. Between them, they have delivered over 2000 healthy babies. But their credential, Certified Professional Midwife, recognized in 37 US states, is not recognized in their state - New York.
While the US faces an acute maternal mortality crisis, the battle between the medical industry and midwifery is a centuries-old David and Goliath story with direct repercussions that impact maternal-fetal health and safety. These shocking arrests only exacerbate a rural healthcare desert. But they also spur the emergence of a very unlikely new group of fierce political activists.
With rare access to an intensely private community, ARREST THE MIDWIFE tells of the story of the these midwives Liz, Melissa and Lissa, and of the Amish and Mennonite women who break from their traditions to stand up, speak out, and join the fight for women’s bodily autonomy and reproductive justice.
Director Statement
I came to this story through my own personal experience of childbirth. When my wife and I decided to have children, we blindly followed the generally accepted medical route for a lesbian couple; fertility specialists, tests, injections–in a clinical setting. However, nothing about this process felt right for us. Finally, we tried an “at-home” insemination with a midwife. The midwife took the time to understand who we were and what was important to us. Through the birth of our daughter, delivered by a midwife, we realized how unnecessarily impersonal and invasive the medical route to a normal birth could be.
When we were planning for our second child we learned the midwifery practice had closed - despite having had a long waiting list- as had the majority of hospital-based, midwife-centered birthing centers in New York City. Curious to find out more, I started to dig deeper and learned about systematic pressure against midwives from the medical industry. When I read about the arrest of a community midwife in rural upstate New York, I immediately recognized the power of this story to bring critical issues surrounding birthing choices to light.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Elaine Epstein
Elaine Epstein is an award-winning South African filmmaker who divides her time between South Africa and New York. Elaine’s film STATE OF DENIAL examining the HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003 and aired on the PBS award-winning series, POV. STATE OF DENIAL was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Coverage of a Current Issue-Long Form and won the Special Jury Award at the Hot Docs Festival. In 2008 Elaine founded Underdog Films, a creative studio specializing in documentary, branded content and social media campaigns. Through Underdog, Elaine has created work for a wide variety of clients including Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, AT&T, and many more. After years of honing her craft on short-from content, Elaine marked her return to long-form documentaries in 2018 when she filmed the award-winning NOTHING WITHOUT US: THE WOMEN WHO WILL END AIDS. ARREST THE MIDWIFE is her second feature as a director.
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