Oak Park, Michigan, Pediatrician Refuses care to baby with 2 moms
By Hannah Woods
I took a seat at my desk after a long hard day taking exams on the human body, and came across an article that was labeled: Pediatrician Wouldn’t Care For Baby With 2 Moms.
At first I thought that maybe there was a legitimate reason as to why this doctor wouldn’t do what she is paid to do, why she spent years after years in college to become, after taking the exams I took today, to be the doctor she is now, but there was no reason at all other than she didn’t like the couple’s sexual orientation.
The couple of Oak Park, Michigan, handpicked a pediatrician that seemed fit for them at Eastlake Pediatrics: she treated babies holistically and used natural remedies such as probiotics. This couple went into their pediatrician’s office expecting to see the doctor about their 6-day-old daughter’s wellness check. They ended up getting a wellness check on their civil rights when another doctor had stepped in to say that after their pediatrician had prayed about it, she could no longer be the physician for that child since the parents were lesbian. Although there are no discrimination rights for sexual orientation in the state of Michigan, there are rights against discrimination in general towards practices that are open to the public as such. What this couple faced was discrimination. The couple went public with this story to raise awareness about discrimination towards lesbian, gay, transgender, queer and bisexual people in places such as a doctor’s office, where it (to them) seemed like it wouldn’t occur.
Doctors such as this one, Vesna Rio, who has been practicing pediatric medicine for 19 years or more, have seen enough people of all shapes and sizes to not humiliate someone based on their sexuality. She wasn’t a doctor of the two parents; she was a doctor for the child, who is the most important piece of this puzzle. If a child is being discriminated against because of their parents…now that’s just undeniably wrong. How could you not care for a child, which is a child of God, born because God chose that child to be born, God chose those parents, but yet pray about it to decide only to commit a heinous act like this? Does she not realize the hypocrisy? God has a plan for us all, correct? He knows every step we are going to take before we take that step, because he created our life story. So God had meant for those two women to be together and have a beautiful child. How could a religious person, that she claims to be, overlook this?
We are Sons & Daughters United, and we stand up for people’s rights like this situation. I believe that we should make this article even more public than it is. Let everyone know about this, because without media, we have no power over what people see and learn from. We need the media attention. Giving this attention will make other people realize that this happens not only in Oak Park, Michigan, but also all over the country, and places even further than that. When people realize that this occurs, we can make a difference and make a change.
http://www.wzzm13.com/story/news/2015/02/19/mich-pediatrician-wouldnt-care-for-baby-with-2-moms/23667741/
Couple fights for custody after home birth in Bellingham, washington
By Hannah Woods
Parents Erica May Carey and Cleave Rengo, from Bellingham, Washington, are petitioning child protective services in the state of Washington, and their reasoning, should attract the attention of many.
A Christian family, they had strong beliefs on giving birth at home without going to a hospital. After giving birth to their son 10 months prior, they decided to go with a natural way of birth for their children she was bearing. In the state of Washington, there are no laws against women having a child at home, and what happened next shocked me.
The two decided to give birth at home without medical assistance and prenatal care. Being Christians, they felt this would preserve the sanctity and sacredness in the birth of their child. It wasn’t till after the birth of her second son that they realized that there was a twin daughter on the way. They had successful births of these twins and breastfed all of her children. Soon after the births, the paramedics showed up after someone had reported these at-home births. The day after, child protective services entered the house and came back for several visits following. The couple’s 10-month old had eczema, which they were treating with natural remedies such as coconut oil, and CPS pushed them to use steroid creams that could potentially harm a child’s skeletal, muscular, and digestive systems. Soon after, CPS took all of the children. CPS states that they did these as to impose the standards of proper parenting.
The family’s attorney called this “unlawful, inexcusable, and unconscionable,” since there wasn’t any evidence of any danger to these children. And to top that off, while the 10-month old son is in the care of the state, he suffers from pneumonia that he didn’t have prior. They missed his first birthday from them being in state custody, and only get to visit the children once a week, and the twins are now 8-weeks old. They are firm believers of breastfeeding so to take this right away from a woman, who like any mammal, nurses her young, is very wrong and detrimental on not only the mother, but the child as well!
The Department of Health and Social Services said, “Due to confidentiality, we cannot discuss details, except to say that a court determined a child’s safety required removal from the home.” The family does not know the reason their children got taken away, because there’s no policy of Children’s Administration to take children due to being born at home, because an at-home birth is at no risk to the child or a child safety factor.
Sound cruel? I do agree. For a Christian family of strong beliefs to have their three young children taken from them for an undecided reason, is completely unlawful, and happens to many families that goes unnoticed. State control over children has limitations and regulations, and if they put standards on the “way of parenting” they should put stops on “way of not taking children from parents without giving any reasoning.” I am not anti-CPS, I am against unlawful treatment to families and their children. I believe that CPS does do wonderful things for children who are being harmed, or who are left without a stable family; but on the contrary, they also do things like this situations, and take away a child from a situation that was not harming or losing stability. The three children in my views, had wonderful parents who had a strong enough Christian belief to know what’s right for their children, and that’s being with their children.
Parents Erica May Carey and Cleave Rengo, from Bellingham, Washington, are petitioning child protective services in the state of Washington, and their reasoning, should attract the attention of many.
A Christian family, they had strong beliefs on giving birth at home without going to a hospital. After giving birth to their son 10 months prior, they decided to go with a natural way of birth for their children she was bearing. In the state of Washington, there are no laws against women having a child at home, and what happened next shocked me.
The two decided to give birth at home without medical assistance and prenatal care. Being Christians, they felt this would preserve the sanctity and sacredness in the birth of their child. It wasn’t till after the birth of her second son that they realized that there was a twin daughter on the way. They had successful births of these twins and breastfed all of her children. Soon after the births, the paramedics showed up after someone had reported these at-home births. The day after, child protective services entered the house and came back for several visits following. The couple’s 10-month old had eczema, which they were treating with natural remedies such as coconut oil, and CPS pushed them to use steroid creams that could potentially harm a child’s skeletal, muscular, and digestive systems. Soon after, CPS took all of the children. CPS states that they did these as to impose the standards of proper parenting.
The family’s attorney called this “unlawful, inexcusable, and unconscionable,” since there wasn’t any evidence of any danger to these children. And to top that off, while the 10-month old son is in the care of the state, he suffers from pneumonia that he didn’t have prior. They missed his first birthday from them being in state custody, and only get to visit the children once a week, and the twins are now 8-weeks old. They are firm believers of breastfeeding so to take this right away from a woman, who like any mammal, nurses her young, is very wrong and detrimental on not only the mother, but the child as well!
The Department of Health and Social Services said, “Due to confidentiality, we cannot discuss details, except to say that a court determined a child’s safety required removal from the home.” The family does not know the reason their children got taken away, because there’s no policy of Children’s Administration to take children due to being born at home, because an at-home birth is at no risk to the child or a child safety factor.
Sound cruel? I do agree. For a Christian family of strong beliefs to have their three young children taken from them for an undecided reason, is completely unlawful, and happens to many families that goes unnoticed. State control over children has limitations and regulations, and if they put standards on the “way of parenting” they should put stops on “way of not taking children from parents without giving any reasoning.” I am not anti-CPS, I am against unlawful treatment to families and their children. I believe that CPS does do wonderful things for children who are being harmed, or who are left without a stable family; but on the contrary, they also do things like this situations, and take away a child from a situation that was not harming or losing stability. The three children in my views, had wonderful parents who had a strong enough Christian belief to know what’s right for their children, and that’s being with their children.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/04/washington-home-birth-children-removed/19877193/