Midwife services in peril

P.E.I. student, advocacy group warning of funding changes that could lead to fewer midwives

A P.E.I. woman is one of 90 Ryerson midwifery students who are raising awareness about funding decisions that could lead to fewer midwives in Canada.

Amy-Mae Jewell, 26, of Stratford, is in her second year of the program and says a decision by the Royal Bank of Canada to end its specialized financing for midwifery students in 2016 is genderbased discrimination, since most students are women and the profession is solely served to women. No other bank in Canada offers student loans for midwives, meaning they have to take out educational lines of credit at higher interest rates.

“It makes no sense to cut it. I think they are just uneducated,” she told The Guardian in a phone interview.

“(Childbirth) is the biggest moment of a woman’s life.”

Jewell notes the P.E.I. government has recently proven the need for women’s health services by building a Women’s Wellness Centre at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside. The government program includes post-partum mental health support, prenatal care for women without a primary care provider and sexual health services for all genders.

“The woman’s clinic in Summerside was such a good step,” said Jewell.

Island advocates for midwife services say they’ve made some gains – like the Summerside Women’s Wellness Centre. But they are also concerned over what the program funding change will mean for the availability of midwives in P.E.I.

“It’s not some old-school, hippie thing, it’s really hard to get into these programs and these people are specifically trained,” said Megan Burnside, who plans to arrange for a midwife for her second child.

Burnside is part of BORN (Birth Options Resource Network), which is lobbying the P.E.I. government to add midwife services to obstetrics care pregnant women already receive. “(Having a midwife) will benefit certain people the same way certain people benefit from acupuncture,” said Burnside.

BORN is planning a rally for the International Day of the Midwife, May 5, to take place in front of Charlottetown City Hall at 11 a.m.