Midwifery Care in Canada

Mazely writes about A Midwife Crisis: Maternity Care in Canada:

The practice of midwifery in Canada is regulated by provincial and territorial authorities. Midwives can only legally practice their profession if they are registered with these authorities, but only seven provinces and territories have regulatory systems in place. This means that midwifery is essentially illegal in the rest of Canada. Further compounding the problem is the fact that even where midwifery is legal, it isn’t always funded or covered by health care. A two-tier system of care has been established, where the standard of maternal care changes depending on your geographic location. Midwives are only available to some women, in some parts of the country, and only some of those women can afford their services.

In addition to giving a brief history of midwifery in Canada, Mazley links to the Canadian Midwifery Regulators Consortium's chart of the legal status of midwives in Canadian territories and provinces.

Midwives Get Hospital Privileges in Ontario

Ross Memorial in Ontario, Canada, has given delivery privileges to five midwives. Though the article doesn't specify, it is clear that these are direct-entry midwives, not CNMs:

Ms [Sam] Ball [administrator of Kawartha Community Midwives] says Ontario was the first province to regulate midwives and consider them part of the medical system. The services of a midwife have been covered by OHIP since 1994.

She says midwives are able to do clinical care and order blood work and ultrasounds.

There are more and more midwives coming into the system, says Ms Ball. Every year, 50 new midwives enter the field, she says. Despite the growing numbers, Kawartha Community Midwives have to turn about 40 women away.

I also learned that the College of Midwives of Ontario, which is solely responsible for regulating midwifery in that Provence, requires all registered midwives to attend both hospital and home deliveries. (pdf).

link: Midwives ready to deliver at Ross Memorial Hospital

Midwifery Miscellaneous

Former Vermont midwife Roberta Devers-Scott has a new attorney for her state Supreme Court appeal - civil rights lawyer Michael Sussman. (link)

The Guardian (which "Covers Prince Edward Island Like the Dew") reports on an effort to regulate midwivery in that part of Canada (link). Some choice quotes:

The Birth Options Research Network (BORN) was established in 2003 by a handful of women to explore birthing options for women in Prince Edward Island.
...
Kerstin Martin, president of the Canadian Association of Midwives, is helping to draft midwifery legislation for Nova Scotia. Currently, the Yukon and all Atlantic provinces are the only jurisdictions in Canada that don’t have regulated midwifery.
...
BORN is also keen to meet with policy makers, politicians and hospital administration to continue to express the concerns of birthing women in P.E.I.

Martin, who has tended to more than 1,000 births, said there needs to be a perception of a need for midwifery to gain support in the province.

“This group BORN is certainly going to do everything it can with that,’’ she said.

“I think they need to really listen to the women of this Island and the communities. What are the women’s experiences of maternity care as it is delivered right now and look at whether women themselves want something different.

“And, of course, women can’t ask for things that they don’t know about.’’

And sorry I haven't done a complete legislative roundup, but Missouri's bill to authorize/legislate direct-entry midwifery,HB 974, did not pass. (link).