British Columbia will become the third Canadian province to allow midwives to independently prescribe and manage Mifegymiso — the abortion pill — after Health Minister Josie Osborne announced an expansion of midwife scope of practice Thursday.
Osborne framed the announcement explicitly in the context of U.S. abortion policy, stating that reproductive rights are being “gutted” south of the border and that B.C. “will always stand up for a woman’s right to choose.” She also noted growing interest from American providers wanting to relocate to B.C. “to live and practise in a place where rights and the rights of their patients are respected.”
The changes make B.C. the third jurisdiction in Canada after Quebec and Saskatchewan to permit midwives to prescribe Mifegymiso without physician oversight. The expanded scope also allows midwives to prescribe levothyroxine for hypothyroidism and cabergoline for lactation suppression during pregnancy.
B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives deputy registrar Jacqueline Per said the announcement comes amid competition across North America for midwife recruitment and retention. Midwives now participate in 30% of all births in the province. About 80 to 95 of B.C.’s 500 midwives serve rural and remote communities.
B.C. is deliberately positioning itself as a destination for abortion providers fleeing U.S. pro-life laws — and is restructuring its entire healthcare delivery system around that goal. The province calls it healthcare expansion. It is the normalization of abortion provision at every level of the medical system.
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