Access to midwifery care for people of low socio-economic status: a qualitative descriptive study.

Access to midwifery care is constrained for people of low-socioeconomic status because lack of awareness about midwifery limits the approachability of these services, and because information about midwifery care is often not provided by physicians when pregnant people first contact the health care system. For people of low-socioeconomic status, inequitable access to midwifery care may be exacerbated by lack of knowledge about midwifery within social networks and a tendency to move passively through the health care system which traditionally favours physician care. Targeted efforts to address this issue are necessary to reduce disparities in access to midwifery care.