Philomena Canning
Philomena Canning (19 September 1959 – 22 March 2019) was an Irish midwife and advocate for natural birth in Ireland and internationally. She advocated for the right for Irish women to give birth at home or in non-medical settings. Advocacy work Philomena Canning was from Glenvar, County Donegal, and early in her career worked as a midwife in the Australian Outback and Saudi Arabia. She served as chair of an abortion advocacy group, Midwives for Choice in Ireland. In 2014 Canning's indemnity licence was withdrawn without notice as the cases of two women had come to the attention of the Health Service Executive (HSE). Neither of the women had complained, and the action was taken weeks after she had submitted a detailed application to the HSE to open two home birth centres in Dublin. Her indemnity was restored in February 2015 but she was unable to practise until the HSE carried out a system analysis. She was eventually declared free to practice in 2016 but by then she said that her business and reputation had been gravely undermined by the delays and false accusations. The HSE offered her a settlement after she initiated a damages case but she pressed to