Midwives attend the births of 75 percent of the world's children. Yet in Canada, there are still many barriers to midwifery care, say advocates Miranda Hawkins and Sarah Knox, who co-authored The Midwifery Option. In a recent article published in Network, the magazine of the Canadian Women's Health Network, they report that:
In Ontario, which has the most midwives, only 4.5 percent of children are caught by midwives.
Quebec has legislated and funded midwifery but does not allow home birth.
In all provinces, many women seek midwifery care, but are turned away because of a shortage of midwives.
Training opportunities for midwives are also scarce but sorely needed. Only British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario have education programs.
There are good reasons to advocate for midwifery. In study after study, mifwife-attended home births have proven to be as safe as hospital births attended by doctors. In fact, midwives tend to have lower rates of intervention and women generally report high levels of satisfaction with midwifery care.
By the year 2020, according to Sarah Knox and Miranda Hawkins, there won't be enough doctors to deliver all of the babies born in Canada.
There are things you can do now to let the policy-makers know you'd like to see midwifery accessible across Canada:
Advocating for Midwifery
⢠Get involved with a local midwifery consumer group.
⢠Write letters or email politicians. They are required to respond to your letter, so they do get noticed.
⢠Stage a media photo-op with pregnant moms and babies sitting on your politician's doorstep.
In Knox's experience, often resistance to midwifery comes from what she calls the "instead of" factor: midwifery "instead of" doctors. So send the message that midwifery benefits both women and the health care system, says Knox.
Originally published in Today's Parent, Pregnancy and Birth, Spring 2004. This content was current at the time of publication.
