A Blog Post About Midwives and Nothing Else

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on the continuing legal challenge to the midwife law:

Physicians’ groups argued Thursday that a new law loosening regulations on midwives is unconstitutional because it goes beyond the bill’s title, which dealt with health insurance.

But an assistant attorney general said that the bill’s purpose was to improve access to health care, and midwives’ services would help meet that goal.

Of course, bill titles should be as specific and informative as possible. And no one argues that using obscure technical terms to add provisions to bills is the ideal way to enact legislation. But now that the bill has already become law, arguing about the bill’s title is silly. We should instead consider whether the law contributes to economic freedom and gives Missouri residents more health care options — which I think it does.