birth center Updates

We are fighting for our birth centers in Massachusetts. 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.

What is happening with birth centers?

Massachusetts has 1 birth center operating: Seven Sisters Midwifery, an independent, midwife-owned birth center in Northampton (Western Massachusetts). For many years, there were two hospital-owned birth centers operating in Eastern Massachusetts, but both are now closed: Cambridge Birth Center has been closed indefinitely since March 2020; North Shore Birth Center (on the campus of Beverly Hospital) was closed by Beth Israel Lahey Health in December 2022 despite community outcry. A bright spot in Eastern Massachusetts is the planned opening of Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston in 2023.

• 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)

Opening and re-opening birth centers:

• NORTHAMPTON: The only birth center currently operating in the state is Seven Sisters Midwifery and Community Birth Center, which opened in 2020. They accept many insurances and MassHealth!

• BOSTON: Our friends at Neighborhood Birth Center are creating Boston’s first freestanding birth center. Bay State Birth Coalition advocated for funding for Neighborhood Birth Center in the 2023 state budget, and it passed! Stay tuned for more actions to support Neighborhood Birth Center. (Learn more and support non-profit Neighborhood Birth Center.)

• BEVERLY: Community advocates on the North Shore are organizing to reestablish a birth center. (Support the Save the North Shore Birth Center Go Fund Me.) The Massachusetts Attorney General has also gotten involved in attempting to preserve access to midwifery care in the region, (Salem News “State sets next steps for midwife access after North Shore Birth Center closure” by Caroline Enos, Jan 1, 2023).

• CAMBRIDGE: Cambridge Birth Center has been closed indefinitely since March 2020. 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).

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 fought to keep the birth center open, and are now fighting to reestablish a birth center to serve the region. Bay State Birth Coalition is 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.

Keep abreast of the campaign to Save North Shore Birth Center on Facebook.