Elaine Carty has expanded the choices available to women seeking obstetrical care. Driven by a desire to provide safe and effective care for pregnant women, she played an instrumental role in establishing Canada’s first in-hospital midwifery service at the BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre. She led efforts to legalize and regulate midwifery and, as a professor at the University of British Columbia, founded her province’s first educational program in this field. Her research on women with disabilities and on women’s experiences of hospitalization has increased the safety and effectiveness of maternal care in Canada.