Midwives Can’t Meet Demand

Unassisted childbirth might be moving into the mainstream, but it may not be a choice. In some areas, there are not enough midwives to go around.

In Ontario, Canada, where I’m from, many women can’t even get on a waiting list during the first 8 weeks of pregnancy. The Toronto Star reported today, that at least 1/3 of all women can’t get the kind of care they want.

• According to the Association of Ontario Midwives, 40 per cent of women seeking midwifery care can’t get it. Those in the profession say clients will lie about their due dates, addresses, and use different names to get on wait lists more than once.
• “It’s really heartbreaking,” says Manavi Handa, a midwife at Kensington Midwives in downtown Toronto. “That’s how desperate women are.”

This is not a problem only in Ontario where the health care system is under strain. Women in other areas can’t find midwife care because their doctors discourage it as a matter of principle and by the time the mothers are tapped into a network of other pregnant women who know how to go about finding a midwife, their pregnancies are too advanced to find an opening.

If you are one of the many women who prefer the care of a midwife, start looking the moment you get a positive pregnancy test. Contact via the internet or the yellow pages your local midwifery association for a list of qualified practitioners. Don’t rely on your doctor’s office to provide you with information about local practices. While elsewhere in the world midwives and doctors work as a supportive team, rivalry is still much too common in North America.

Oh, and as an open note to Doctors and Midwives: Please start working together. It’s better for women and children. We’d love to hear your successful team-building stories.