birth center Updates
We are fighting for our birth centers in Massachusetts. The 2024 Midwifery and Maternal Health Omnibus Law will make it easier to open, operate, and staff birth centers, but there is still more work to do to ensure the sustainability and invest in the growth of birth centers. Make sure you subscribe to emails from Bay State Birth Coalition to stay abreast of the fight to make birth center care accessible in all communities.
Where are the birth centers?
Open
Currently, Massachusetts has just 1 birth center operating: Seven Sisters Midwifery and Birth Center, an independent, midwife-owned birth center in Northampton (Western Massachusetts). Seven Sisters opened in August 2020 by midwives Ginny Miller and the late Kirsten Kowalski-Lane.
In Development
There are multiple birth centers in development:
Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston
Embrace Midwifery Care and Birth Center in Worcester
TBD birth center in Leominster
TBD birth center on the North Shore
and more anticipated!
Closed
For many years, there were two hospital-owned birth centers operating in Eastern Massachusetts, but both are now closed.
Cambridge Birth Center (Cambridge Health Alliance) has been closed since March 2020, though it has been recently renovated and is planned to reopen soon. On September 12, the Cambridge City Council heard public testimony and unanimously passed a resolution to urge Cambridge Health Alliance to reopen Cambridge Birth Center. (Read our testimony to the Cambridge City Council.) The future of Cambridge Birth Center is still unclear, (see Cambridge Day article from October 2022).
North Shore Birth Center (on the campus of Beverly Hospital) was permanently closed by Beth Israel Lahey Health in December 2022 despite community outcry.
More about birth centers
Watch Neighborhood Birth Center’s 4-minute video sharing their vision for the reverberating impact of a birth center on the whole community.
Commonwealth Magazine “Opinion: Take pregnant people seriously, support birth centers. Let science in to address failing maternity system.” by Cristina Alonso (Jan 1, 2023)
Boston Globe “Opinion: Birth centers offer options. Why is there only one left in Massachusetts? With the closing of the North Shore Birth Center and the stalled reopening of the Cambridge Birth Center, it seems that midwifery care is often seen as dispensable.” by Nashira Baril, Katherine Gergen Barnett, and Mallika Sabharwal (Dec 30, 2022)
Commonwealth Magazine “Hoping to deliver at a Massachusetts birth center? Good luck. Planned closure of North Shore facility will leave just one birthing center in the state.” by Shira Schoenberg (Nov 20, 2022)
The Fight to Save North Shore Birth Center
In late 2021, North Shore Birth Center began temporary closures and reduced access. In early 2022, Beth Israel Lahey Health announced their plans to permanently close the birth center, which had been providing midwifery-led reproductive and birth care on the campus of Beverly Hospital for over 40 years. Community activists led a remarkable fight to try to keep the birth center open. While the birth center unfortunately did close permanently in December 2022, the community is now working to reestablish a birth center to serve the region. Bay State Birth Coalition was proud to stand with community activists in support of saving the North Shore Birth Center.
Boston Globe, June 15, 2022: “Another assault on women’s rights’: Last birth center in Eastern Massachusetts to close; The cuts come as lawmakers killed proposals linked to improved maternal care for people of color”
Letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Ed Markey, and Congressman Seth Moulton to Beverly Hospital executives in support of the North Shore Birth Center, July 12, 2022
Salem News “State sets next steps for midwife access after North Shore Birth Center closure” by Caroline Enos, Jan 1, 2023
Watch our testimony from the July 20, 2022 Department of Public Health hearing on Beverly Hospital’s announcement to close the North Shore Birth Center, a beloved community reproductive health care resource and the last birth center operating in Eastern Massachusetts.
September 28, 2022 rally to save North Shore Birth Center