I didn’t know about midwives before I made a documentary about them. I had two children with doctors in the hospital, like almost everyone in Quebec.
I felt safe at the time because I couldn’t see the downside of our system. Its rigidity forms a corridor in which we direct all who carry life so that they follow the same path. Many come out shaken and hurt, like me. And this corridor, did you know, is expensive? More expensive. And it also leads to more cesareans.
Quebec’s healthcare system is overwhelmed with the normalcy of childbirth. We are experiencing a crisis in obstetrics and we continue to send 96% of pregnant women there, including those who have so-called low-risk pregnancies. This is despite the fact that giving birth in a hospital doctor costs 25% more than giving birth in a birth center with midwives who are still certified health professionals.
Danger?
I can already hear the voices reminding us of how dangerous childbirth can be to the life of both the mother and the baby. We are fortunate to have competent doctors who can act when there are pathologies. And we’re fortunate to have experts on normality. They are both part of the same healthcare system, we don’t have to compromise. But it is still necessary to have access to their services.
When the government boasts of opening every birthing center, the reality is that midwifery support is hard to come by and still unknown to the public; There was no midwife’s notebook in my doctor’s office.
However, the government committed in 2008 that there should be midwives in all regions of the province and that they attend 10% of births. Elsewhere in the country and around the world, the practice of midwifery is gaining ground. Our neighbors in Ontario have a midwife support rate of 20% and in British Columbia 25%. In Quebec? 4%.
More appropriate services
That person who carries life within them can be transgender, immigrant, native, healthy, overweight, pregnant despite their will, who knows? She may have a physical disability, an intellectual disability, or an autism spectrum disorder. And if that’s the case, he might have an even harder time traversing the birthing corridor. So says a new report from the Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (IESSS). These women with disabilities also give life, just like me. The services they receive are not sufficiently adapted to their reality; Accessing the information needed can be difficult, and attitudes among perinatal care providers are sometimes biased, the report concludes. It’s like asking pregnant women to conform to the system instead of giving them our full support.
I’m proposing something that might sound crazy a few days before International Women’s Day; Shouldn’t we let those who carry life tell us what they need? Taking care of it and not treating childbirth like knee surgery?
I propose to strive for excellence in health, as the Institute is called, to enable those who want it, from whom they want, to give birth, where and how they want.
I propose that we put the woman who carries life at the top of the list of priorities. Let’s love her, let’s thank her, because if we’re all here, it’s thanks to her.
Claudia Simard, Women’s health activist and documentary filmmaker