This two-day forum brought together birth care advocates, practitioners, and researchers to discuss birth care provision in the Atlantic provinces. The central goal of the proposed forum was to foster stronger regional networks around birth care, connecting researchers, practitioners, and advocates. Through this network, we seek to understand, improve, and expand pregnancy and birth care in the region through changes to social policy including increased access to regulated midwifery, homebirth, and Indigenous birth care, as well as abortion, pre-natal, and post-partum care. We hope that this initial set of conversations will provide a strong foundation for policy interventions, as well as ongoing communication and cooperation across the region.

The gathering included:

• Opening reception & welcome, evening of June 5

• June 6: Keynote address by Alisha Julien Reid, Mi’kmaw Midwife and co-lead of the National Council of Indigenous Midwives

• Presentations on Indigenous birth practices, regulated midwifery in the Atlantic region, researching pregnancy and birth care, unregulated forms of birth care, midwifery legislation and policy.

• Tour of the Reproductive Justice Library

• Other events

The context for this gathering:

Widespread access to a robust set of pregnancy and birth care options continues to be a challenge in the Atlantic provinces. Although midwifery care is well-established in the rest of Canada, most births in the Atlantic provinces are physician-attended and hospital-based, and existing provisions for midwifery care fall far below national standards. This regional disparity persists despite clear demand for midwifery, Indigenous birth care, and other forms of out-of-hospital pregnancy care. In the absence of reliable access to a range of birth care services, alternative birth practices, including unattended and freebirth also seem to be growing. With different forms of care and different legislative and logistical approaches among provinces, there is clearly a pressing need for a revisioning of pregnancy and birth care policy in the region.

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Funding gratefully acknowledged from the following sources:

Acadia University

Centre for Canadian Studies, MtA

Conference Organization Fund, MtA

President’s Research and Creative Activities Fund, MtA

ResearchNB

SSHRC Connections Grant