Continuing a pregnancy

In Quebec, you can choose from a range of healthcare professionals for pregnancy monitoring and delivery. Monitoring will be provided by a family doctor, a perinatal general practitioner, a specialized nurse practitioner (SNP), an obstetrician-gynaecologist or a midwife.

For a follow-up by your family doctor, contact them to find out if they’ve can monitor your pregnancy. If you don't have a family doctor, contact the Ma grossesse pregnancy support service for information on health network services and to register with a health professional who can monitor your pregnancy.

If you’d like to be seen by a midwife, you should contact your local or regional birthing centre. However, you should be aware that midwives do not deal with high-risk pregnancies.

To choose your pregnancy monitoring professional, you can also contact medical clinics yourself.

Pregnancy monitoring enables professionals to carry out examinations and ultrasounds and take samples to ensure that the pregnancy is progressing smoothly and that the carrier parent is well.

Monitoring begins between the 8th and 12th weeks of pregnancy and continues until the end of the pregnancy. Monitoring becomes more frequent as the pregnancy progresses. You have the right to ask for and receive information about the medical care you’ll receive at these appointments. You also have the right to refuse certain examinations.

Don't hesitate to contact your healthcare professional if you have any questions about pregnancy monitoring.

If you’re covered by the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), pregnancy monitoring and delivery are covered free of charge.

If you’re not covered by the Quebec health insurance plan (RAMQ) and aren’t eligible for the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), you must contact clinics and doctors yourself to find a medical team willing to monitor your pregnancy and delivery.

If you have private or group medical insurance, it may reimburse some expenses related to pregnancy monitoring and delivery. You should contact your insurer for more information.

If you have medical insurance in another Canadian province, but wish to have your pregnancy and delivery monitored in Quebec, you need to apply to your provincial insurer for reimbursement of the costs after you have paid them yourself in Quebec.

If you aren’t covered by Quebec health insurance or by private or group medical insurance, you’ll have to pay for the costs of pregnancy monitoring and delivery yourself. We invite you to consult the Handbook for pregnant women without health insurance in Quebec by Doctors of the World.

You can make a payment arrangement with the hospital on the day of delivery. Follow-up appointments must be paid directly on the day of the medical exam.

This may or may not have affected the development of the embryo or fetus, regardless of how much or how often alcohol or drugs were consumed.

Ideally, you should stop consuming alcohol and drugs at the start of your pregnancy. Reducing or stopping consumption is a personal decision, and you can consult various professionals to help you through the process.