Witchy Woman

"The U.S. government has decided to stop issuing passports to Latinos from the
Southwest with only a birth certificate issued by a midwife as proof of citizenship.

The State Department argues that some midwives have falsified records of children born in Mexico and therefore all midwife issued birth certificates are suspect. Between 60-75 midwives since 1960 have been convicted of forging birth certificates for infants they did not deliver or who may have been born outside of the US.

Unfortunately, many of the cases occurred almost 50 years ago and amount to a small percentage of the overall midwife delivered births in the Southwest region. Some 250 midwives operated in Southwest Texas this year alone."

Link

I am on the fence as to whether or not it's a feminist issue, but I am certainly concerned that people of ANY colour are being questioned over their freaking birth certificates.

My (very white) best friend was told that she was really German and basically crazy for thinking she was American because she was born on a military base in Germany. Bwuh? She actually had to argue with the lady at the DMV that our military bases, no matter where they are, are really considered American soil. The lady didn't like that and threatened to call the cops on her. And required her original marriage certificate, divorce papers, AND the certificate from her second/current marriage. Guys, however, have no problems whatsoever with this. Gah! Ok, that rant is over.

The attempt to discredit medical practices that are non-Westernized does trouble me greatly. "Oh, they're midwives who deliver babies the good old fashioned way and don't perform surgery? Well, then they aren't as good as us doctors who try to treat you with cookie-cutter methods and like to panic and do everything necessary to run up your medical bills." Women who like to take their own medical care entirely into their own hands? They must be trying to pull a fast one on Uncle Sam.