Midwifery – From Parasite to Partner in the Ontario Health Care System

Using several frameworks for public policy analysis, documents how midwifery in Ontario evolved from being illegal in 1982 to being a self‐regulated health profession in 1990. In 1985, the Ontario Government agreed that midwifery should be “legalized”; but how to do it was the question. The lobbying efforts of two coalitions armed with research‐based evidence influenced the policy decision process. Coalition A favoured midwifery becoming a self‐regulated health profession based on their beliefs that: (1) childbirth should be“de‐medicalized” and (2) the parents have a right to choose. Coalition B favoured the medical model and believed that “treatment was better”; it opposed home births, in general, and midwifery being self‐regulated, in particular. Also examines future implications of the Midwife Act.