Inequity in immigrants’ health during pregnancy and childbirth has been shown. We studied the Danish regional organization of public midwifery-based antenatal care (ANC) for immigrant women to assess the strengths and weaknesses of organizing ANC as either universal or immigrant-targeted. A telephone survey in 2012 to all the Danish maternity wards (n = 20) was conducted. Semi-structured interviews with midwives providing targeted care (n = 6) were undertaken and characteristics of care were qualitatively analyzed, having the immigrant density of the facilities, the Danish ANC policy, and theories of cultural competence as the frame of reference. Six maternity wards were providing immigrant-targeted ANC. Targeted care implied longer consultations and increased attention to the individual needs of immigrant women. At these facilities, navigation in the health care system, body awareness, and use of interpreter services were key topics. The selection of women for targeted care was based on criteria (including names) that risk stigmatizing immigrant women. The arguments for not providing targeted care included that immigrant-targeted care was considered stigmatizing. Current universal care may overlook the needs of immigrant women and contribute to inequities. A strategy could be to improve dynamic cultural competencies of midwives, interpreter services, and flexibility of the care provision of the universal ANC system. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Migration Quality of care Institutional practice Maternal and child health health policy Antenatal care

immigrant prenatal care maternal health health care policy human Denmark cultural competence institutional care maternity ward consultation semi structured interview female qualitative analysis telephone interview clinical article child health Article awareness interpreter service adult migration midwife Health Policy