Individual Liberty Archives - Page 15 of 23 - Mississippi Center for Public Policy

A growing number of expectant moms are considering home births as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread and to overwhelm hospitals. This is true even in Mississippi, a state with few midwives and among the lowest percentage of home births each year.

“I’ve seen a considerable uptick in the number of women who are now interested in home births,” said Kristina Harper, a midwife in Olive Branch who serves women in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

“We are fielding an extra five-to-ten emails each day, an extra five-to-ten phone calls each day from women who want to deliver at home,” Harper added. “In the last two weeks, I’ve gone from one or two patients to four or five.”

Dr. Delta Stark, a prenatal chiropractor in Madison county and the Board President of Better Birth Mississippi, said this is true statewide.

“We specifically have been receiving an influx of questions and requests to join our consumer discussion page from pregnant women who even into their late third trimester are looking for out-of-hospital birthing options due to fear and concerns with COVID-19,” Stark said.

That's one of the reasons for the newfound interest in midwives, who delivered virtually every baby in the mother’s house at the turn of the 20th century.

Part of the issue is new constraints on hospitals that have become swamped because of coronavirus. Though policies tend to change daily, some hospitals have begun to restrict all visitors, even the father of the baby. And then there is the fear that new moms will contract COVID-19 while at the same hospital as so many patients who have the virus.

“Some are looking specifically for midwives and home birth options,” Stark added. “But some are more concerned with the fear of not having support persons allowed into their birth setting (including family members, doulas, partners, etc.). These are very uncertain times to be birthing due to ever-changing hospital rules and regulations.”

Harper has been a midwife since 2004. She is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), which is a private national certification for midwives to establish knowledge, skills, and abilities. It includes training, education, supervised experience, and the successful competition of a skills assessment and written exam. Most CPM’s like Harper practice in homes or birth centers.

The Certified Professional Midwife credential, issued by the North American Registry of Midwives, is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, the accrediting body of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence.

For those who don’t plan on working in the hospital setting, this is the gold-standard certification.

“Midwives, who receive extensive education and training, are qualified to attend to low risk women who desire a home birth,” Harper says on her website. “Midwives have proven over and over again, that they can and do safely attend to women who are low risk for complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Midwives aren’t there for when everything is going perfectly smoothly. Midwives are there because they are knowledgeable in normal, monitor for normal and are with the laboring mother for the majority of their labors.”

As Harper says, a home birth isn’t for everyone, only low-risk pregnancies.

Harper is licensed in Tennessee and collaborates with a physician in the Volunteer State.

She doesn’t in Mississippi because the state doesn’t license midwives. While a lack of license would generally be a positive, it also contributes to Mississippi having among the fewest home births in the country and no true birthing centers. Part of that is because the low number of midwives in the state. According to Stark, they generally have 10 practicing midwives at a time.

“In Tennessee it is easier to find physicians to work with and to get doctors to call in prescriptions,” Harper said.

But not in Mississippi.

“In my personal experience caring for pregnant moms in central Mississippi for the last three years as a prenatal chiropractor, very few OBs or hospitals are willing to collaborate care with midwives serving clients choosing home births in the area,” Stark said. “There are a few exceptions, but generally speaking there is a lot of push back for families seeking support and backup birth plans in a hospital setting. Again, I feel like this could strongly discourage some moms that may have a positive relationship with their OBs from seeing home births as even an option. The way this system currently works, it is not providing supportive care that honors a mom’s wishes to give birth the way she desires, and I truly think this negatively impacts your home birth rates as a whole.”

In this case, a license based on a private certification such as the CPM would likely lead to an increase in the number of clients using the service. This would make it easier for midwives to consult with physicians, to carry medications, and even for patients to have insurance cover the birth. This, in turn, would benefit insurance companies as the cost of a home birth is generally half to one-third the cost of a birth in a hospital.

But higher number of home births is something that could benefit the state even after the virus passes. In a rural state where many hospitals don’t deliver babies and there is a shortage of OB-GYNs, midwives could serve and expand their role.

“With continued limited access to care in rural areas of Mississippi, families are losing access to quality providers locally,” Stark said. “Due to current travel restrictions they are also being pushed towards an increased amount of birth interventions such as scheduled inductions and C-sections versus allowing labor to begin naturally, and thus increasing unnecessary risk for both moms and babies. By utilizing certified midwifery care to fill in the gaps in these rural areas for low risk births, along with collaboration from other birth professionals for high risk births, we can aim to provide safer, quality care for all Mississippi families.”

For Harper, she is going to continue her work caring for mothers and their babies. As she has always done.

“It’s a calling.”

Mississippi’s shelter in place order begins at 5 p.m. today and runs for two weeks.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t leave your house. Nor will it close all businesses. Under the order, individuals will be allowed to leave their house for health-related reasons, to obtain food and common household supplies, to engage in individual outdoor activity, and to work in an essential business.

“If there’s a pond, creek, or private lake near you where you can safely drop a line while staying away from other anglers I strongly encourage you to do so,” Gov. Tate Reeves recently tweeted.

In a recent news conference, Reeves talked about closing the Barnett Reservoir and other public waterways that people like to congregate. Large crowds – of at least more than 10 – have been gathering at such locations prompting the shut down.

If that continues, would we start to see people being arrested? Probably not. At least at first.

“What I would hope would happen is local or state law enforcement breaks up that group and tells them to go home,” Reeves said. “I don’t think we’re going to see significant arrests initially unless you ignore what you’re supposed to do.”

Essentially, the police aren’t going to pull people over in their car asking for proof that they are traveling to or a from an essential business or activity. And if they do see you violating the order, you’ll likely just be asked to disperse.

Nationwide, we have seen some high-profile arrests for people who are clearing ignoring orders. Preachers in Louisiana and Florida have been arrested for holding church services with upwards of 1,000 people.

But, by and large, that has not been the case to this point. Arrests have generally come after multiple warnings from law enforcement or if the person was engaged in another illegal activity.

What are essential businesses?

Government: Public safety, first responders, law enforcement, fire prevention and response, courts and court personnel, military, emergency management personnel, correction, probation and parole, child protection, child welfare, EMTs, 911 call center employees, all workers and vendors that support law enforcement and emergency management operations and services.

Healthcare: Hospitals, clinics, research and laboratory operations, nursing homes, residential healthcare facilities, congregate care facilities, assisted living facilities, elder care, medical wholesale and distribution, home health workers and aides, medical supply and equipment manufacturers and providers, medical waste disposal, hazardous waste disposal, other ancillary healthcare services.

Infrastructure: Utilities including power generation, nuclear facilities, utility poles and components, fuel and transmission, petroleum producers, suppliers and distributors, supply chain companies, telecommunications, electronic security and life safety services, wireless communication, communications sales and customer support, telecommunications and data centers, cybersecurity operations, flood control, operations of dams, aviation, airports, ports, roads and highways, mass transit, automotive sales and repair, vehicle rental services, taxi and network providers such as Uber and Lyft, freight and passenger rail, pipelines, transportation infrastructure, public water and waste water, hazardous waste disposal, hotels and commercial lodging services.

Manufacturing: Food processing and production, pharmaceuticals, food additives, medical equipment, medical devices and supplies, technology, biotechnology, chemical products, telecommunications products, automotive production and supplies, healthcare, energy, steel and steel products, fuel and petroleum exploration and production, lubricants, greases and engine oils, mining, national defense, sanitary and cleaning products, household products, personal care products, products used by other essential businesses or operations.

Agriculture: Food cultivation, livestock, cattle, poultry and seafood operations, livestock auctions, feedlots, dealers and brokers of livestock, livestock transporters, farmer’s markets, feed stores, repair of agricultural equipment, gas, diesel and petroleum suppliers, aquaculture, horticulture, chemicals including pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, producers and distributors, forest products businesses, including those involved in forestry operations, logging, manufacture of lumber and paper products, meat processing facilities, rendering facilities and transporters, feed processing facilities, veterinary services.

Retail: Supermarkets, food and beverage stores, food providers, convenience stores, pharmacies, hardware and building materials, gas station, restaurants or bars (must comply with limit of 10 people).

Services: Trash collection, mail and shipping services, home repair, automotive sales and repair, warehouse, distribution and fulfilment centers, laundromats/ laundry services.

Media: Newspaper, digital news sites, television, radio, other media services.

Finance: Banks and related institutions, insurance, payroll, accounting, processing financial transactions, services related to financial markets.

Professional: Legal, accounting, insurance, real estate (including appraisal and title) services.

Construction: Building and construction, lumber, building materials and hardware, electricians, plumbers, exterminators, cleaning and janitorial, HVAC and water heating industry, painting, moving and relocating services, other skilled trades and other related construction firms and professionals to maintain essential infrastructure.

Safety, sanitation, and operations of residences and businesses: Law enforcement, fire prevention and response, firearm and ammunition manufacturers and retailers, building code enforcement, security, emergency management and response, building cleaning including disinfection, automotive sales and repair, mortuaries and cemeteries.

This also includes organizations that provide basic necessities to economically disadvantaged populations, defense industrial bases employers and personnel, vendors that provide essential services or products, and religious entities (that adhere to gathering size limitations).

Gov. Tate Reeves issued an order mandating Mississippians stay at home on Wednesday as part of the state’s continued effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Under the order, Individuals will only be allowed to leave their house for health-related reasons, to obtain food and common household supplies, to engage in individual outdoor activity, and to work in an essential business.

What are essential businesses?

Services: Trash collection, mail and shipping services, home repair, automotive sales and repair, warehouse, distribution and fulfilment centers, laundromats/ laundry services.

Media: Newspaper, digital news sites, television, radio, other media services.

Finance: Banks and related institutions, insurance, payroll, accounting, processing financial transactions, services related to financial markets.

Professional: Legal, accounting, insurance, real estate (including appraisal and title) services.

The city of Tupelo has joined a small list of cities in Mississippi that has enacted some form of restaurant and bar ban in an effort to fight the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Jackson, the largest city in the state, and Oxford have also moved forward with bans.

In Tupelo, Mayor Jason Shelton issued an order limiting restaurants to either 50 percent capacity, or 20 people at one time, whichever is less. Beyond that, restaurants can only offer drive-thru, curbside, or delivery service. All recreational entertainment facilities must also close.

On Tuesday, the Oxford Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a resolution that requires restaurants and bars to shut down common dining facilities.

The resolution also gave the mayor the power to close all liquor stores and to order a general curfew as deemed necessary. The curfew could only last up to five days. The mayor also was given the power to issue additional orders that “are necessary for the protection of life and liberty.”

And last night, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba issued an order prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people and closing bars and restaurants in the state's capital city.

Across the country, the number of states that have enacted statewide bans continues to grow. Today, Alabama became one of the latest states with such a ban. Louisiana, which has more confirmed coronavirus cases than all but six states as of Thursday night, has had a ban since early this week.

While Gov. Tate Reeves said he was hesitant about pushing for a ban two days ago, Shelton said he would like to see statewide action. Earlier in the week he said, “[you’re] going to create a lot more problems when you have restaurants closing in one city and not the other one.

“I strongly feel this is an issue the Mississippi State Department of Health should be addressing on a uniform statewide basis,” Shelton added Thursday. “I certainly want to be as polite as possible and as deferential as possible. I’m not exactly sure why there hasn’t been any action yet.”

The city of Jackson has become the second city in Mississippi to close bars and restraints in an effort to ease the transmission of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

This evening, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba issued an order prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people. All restaurants and bars must close, though restaurants can continue to offer take-out and delivery services.

Yesterday, Oxford became the first city in the state to issue a similar order. Some governors have issued statewide bans, but Gov. Tate Reeves has said he is hesitant to order mandatory closings for private businesses.

According to latest count, there have been 34 positive cases in Mississippi, including six in Hinds county.

The order will be in effect until March 31.

Gov. Tate Reeves has said that while his office has looked into the closing of bars and restaurants, he is hesitant to issue mandatory closings to private businesses. The city of Oxford had less restraint last night.

As the COVID-19 virus pandemic spreads, the Oxford Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night that requires restaurants and bars to shut down common dining facilities. Restaurants will only be allowed to use drive-through, curbside pick-up, or delivery methods.

The resolution also gave the mayor the power to close all liquor stores and to order a general curfew as deemed necessary. The curfew could only last up to five days.

The mayor also was given the power to issue additional orders that “are necessary for the protection of life and liberty.”

According to the Daily Journal, several Oxford restaurants had voluntarily closed, including Ajax Diner, Proud Larry’s, The Sipp, McEwen’s, Volta Taverna, Oxford Canteen, and Track 61.

As of yesterday's count, there were 21 positive cases in Mississippi from the following counties: Copiah, Forrest, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Jackson, Leflore, Monroe, and Pearl River. There have been 389 individuals tested by the state’s public health laboratory.

The Mississippi House of Representatives adopted a bill today to protect the rights of college students to speak freely about the causes and issues they hold dear. The bill codifies existing federal case law for the state of Mississippi to avoid expensive litigation for public universities and colleges.

“The last place on earth we should expect to see free speech go unprotected is on a college campus,” said Jon Pritchett, President and CEO of Mississippi Center for Public Policy (MCPP). “Students and administrators need to tolerate speech with which they may disagree. And while this is not a left or right issue, it is important to thank Speaker Philip Gunn and the House for their leadership and action on this important issue.”

Eighty-three percent of Mississippi voters support legislation that “would protect speech for all college students, even if others disagree with their point of view.” This law has broad public support in every corner of the state. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats, 88 percent of Republicans, and 80 percent of independents support the law.

HB 1200 does not protect speech that would incite violence or harassment or would objectively disrupt a campus event or activity. It only applies to the campus community and allows universities to set reasonable limits to speech and peaceful protests.

“Under House Bill 1200, schools would not be able to create specific ‘free speech zones’ and they would have to use ‘clear, published, content-and viewpoint-neutral criteria’ in restricting student speech and gatherings,” explained Dr. Jameson Taylor, Vice President for Policy with MCPP. These criteria are set forth in U.S. Supreme Court decisions like Healy v. James (1972) andTinker v. Des Moines (1969) and, more recently in the lower courts, Barnes v. Zaccari (2015) andKoala v. Khosla (2019).”

According to a recent audit by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, there is an “urgent” need to address unconstitutional restrictions on campuses like at Ole Miss. The University of Mississippi “has set out unconstitutional rules for ‘Speaker’s Corners,’ ‘Organized Student Demonstrations,’ carrying props, and use of sidewalk chalk. It has, moreover, a Bias Incident Response Team, whose stated procedures will almost inevitably trigger a legal challenge.” Likewise, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), cautions that “the picture on the ground in Mississippi is not all rosy.” FIRE is currently suing Jones County Community College for violating the free speech rights of student Mike Brown.

Almost 20 states have passed campus free speech protections, including every state in the SEC except Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.

Full poll results can be found here. The poll was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy.

Mississippi’s slow, but steady, progress toward reforming the state's civil asset forfeiture program continued this week in the House.

House Bill 1398, sponsored by Rep. Dana Criswell (R-Olive Branch), would end the practice where law enforcement or prosecutors could request a property owner to waive their rights to their property, often in exchange for charges to be dropped. The new language in the bill will also change the burden of proof for forfeiture to clear and convincing evidence.

Over the past five years, the state has begun to make small steps from a program that not too long ago had no transparency on what was happening to property rights in the state. Through task force recommendations, the state adopted a transparency website that brought light to what was being forfeited. Two years ago, the legislature let administrative forfeiture – which allows agents of the state to take property valued under $20,000 and forfeit it by merely obtaining a warrant and providing the individual with a notice – die.

Still, significant reforms remain harder to come by. The original language of HB 1398 would’ve put caps on what kind of property that state and local governments can acquire via civil asset forfeiture. That bill would have exempted property, currency totaling $500 or less, and a vehicle with a market value of $2,500 or less from civil asset forfeiture.

According to the most recent analysis of the civil asset forfeiture database by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, of the 353 seizures in 2019, 118 of them of them had a total value of $2,500 or less.

There were 41 vehicles seized by law enforcement with an average value of $5,091 in 2019. Of those, 29 would’ve been below the cap set by Criswell’s bill and would not have been eligible for forfeiture.

Despite the narrative that civil asset forfeiture is a vital tool for busting big drug cartels, most seizures are small in size. Only three seizures were $60,000 or more in 2019 and 177 had a total value of $10,000 or less.

HB 1398 passed 107-10, with ten Republicans voting against it: Reps. William Andrews, Jim Beckett, Kevin Felsher, Jill Ford, Dale Goodin, Gene Newman, Brent Powell, Randy Rushing, Troy Smith, and Mark Tullos.

Legislation to ensure free speech on college campuses in Mississippi will not only protect the rights of every student, it will also save taxpayers the costs of attorney fees.

Healy v. James, U.S. Supreme Court (1972). … “State colleges and universities are not enclaves immune from the sweep of the First Amendment.The precedents of this Court leave no room for the view that, because of the acknowledged need for order, First Amendment protections should apply with less force on college campuses than in the community at large.”

Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth, U.S. Supreme Court (2000) … “When a university requires its students to pay fees to support the extracurricular speech of other students, all in the interest of open discussion, it may not prefer some viewpoints to others.”

Sweezy v. New Hampshire, U.S. Supreme Court (1957) … “The essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident. ... Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die.”

Papish v. Board of Curators of University of Missouri, U.S. Supreme Court (1973) … “We think Healy makes it clear that the mere dissemination of ideas—no matter how offensive to good taste—on a state university campus may not be shut off in the name alone of “conventions of decency.”

Widmar v. Vincent, U.S. Supreme Court (1981) … “With respect to persons entitled to be there, our cases leave no doubt that the First Amendment rights of speech and association extend to the campuses of state universities.”

Dambrot v. Central Michigan University, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (1995) … “Because the CMU discriminatory harassment policy is overbroad and void for vagueness and because it is not a valid prohibition against fighting words, the CMU discriminatory harassment policy violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”

DeJohn v. Temple University, 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals (2008) … “The Policy punishes not only speech that actually causes disruption, but also speech that merely intends to do so: by its terms, it covers speech `which has the purpose or effect of' interfering with educational performance or creating a hostile environment. This ignores Tinker's requirement that a school must reasonably believe that speech will cause actual, material disruption before prohibiting it."

Barnes v. Zaccari, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (2015) … “Qualified immunity offers complete protection for government officials sued in their individual capacities as long as their conduct violates no clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. … To defeat qualified immunity on a motion for summary judgment, Barnes must show that, when the facts are viewed in the light most favorable to him, Zaccari violated a constitutional right.” … In this case, the president of the university agreed to a personal $900,000 settlement because there is no “immunity” to violate the U.S. Constitution.

Koala v. Khosla, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (2019) … “We are sensitive to the challenges facing educational institutions seeking to steer a difficult course between free expression and civil discourse. Nevertheless, we are equally mindful of that fact that, in the university setting, “the State acts against a backdrop and tradition of thought and experiment that is at the center of our intellectual and philosophic tradition.” Rosenberger, 515 U.S. at 835. We conclude that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar plaintiffs’ suit.”