This collection brings together the leading research in maternity care from the US, Canada, and Europe to discuss systems of care for pregnancy and childbirth. A groundbreaking work which gives a truly international understanding.

Part I: The Politics of Maternity Care Introduction Sirpa Wrede 1. Where to Give Birth? Politics and the Place of Birth Eugene Declercq, Raymond DeVries, Kirsi Viisainen, Helga B. Salvesen, and Sirpa Wrede 2. The State and Birth/The State of Birth: Maternal Health Policy in Three Countries Sirpa Wrede, Cecilia Benoit, and Jane Sandall 3. Changing Birth: Interest Groups and Maternity Care Policy Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Eugene Declercq, and Jane Sandall 4. Reforming Birth and (Re)Making Midwifery in North America Betty-Anne Daviss 5. Looking Within: Race, Class, and Birth Margaret K. Nelson and Rebecca Popenoe Part II: Providing Maternity Care Introduction Edwin R. van Teijlingen 6. Deciding Who Cares: Winners and Losers in the Late Twentieth Century Jane Sandall, Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Wouter J. Meijer, and Beate A. Schüecking 7. Designing Midwives: A Comparison of Educational Models Ceclia Benoit, Robbie Davis-Floyd, Edwin R. van Teijlingen, Jane Sandall, and Janneli F. Miller 8. Telling Stories of Midwives Leonie van der Hulst and Edwin R. van Teijlingen 9. Spoiling the Pregnancy: Prenatal Diagnosis in the Netherlands Barbara Katz Rothman Part III: Society, Technology, and Practice Introduction Cecilia Benoit 10. Maternity Care Policies and Maternity Care Practices: A Tale of Two Germanys Susan L. Erikson 11. Constructing Risk: Maternity Care, Law, and Malpractice Elizabeth Cartwright and Jan Thomas 12. Obstetrical Trajectories: On Training Women/Bodies for (Home) Birth Bernike Pasveer and Madeleine Akrich 13. What (and Why) Do Women Want? The Desires of Women and the Design of Maternity Care Raymond DeVries, Helga B. Salvesen, Therese A. Weigers, and A. Susan Williams Appendix: The Politics of Numbers: The Promise and Frustration of Cross-National Analysis Eugene Declercq and Kirsi Viisainen