birth centers in massachusetts
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.
A freestanding birth center is a home-like setting providing midwifery-led and family-centered care to healthy pregnant people outside of the hospital. Keep reading to learn about birth centers in our state, where they are, what they do, why they are important, and what is needed to make the benefits of this model of care available to more individuals and families in Massachusetts.
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 currently 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, 2022, 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 and a 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. (See the fight to Save North Shore Birth Center below.)
Birth Center Policy
Recent progress
The 2024 Midwifery and Maternal Health Omnibus Law supports birth centers in Massachusetts through improved facility regulation, staffing requirements, provider reimbursement, and workforce opportunities.
Modernized birth center regulations, promulgated in February 2025 by the Department of Public Health, align with current national standards and best practices for safe and appropriate midwifery care in birth centers
Licensure of certified professional midwives, a key workforce for birth centers in the U.S.
Equitable MassHealth reimbursement rates for nurse midwives, which took effect in January 2025, contributes to the financial sustainability of birth centers
What is needed
With increasing opportunities to open birth centers and a high demand for this option, how can Massachusetts support their success, safety, and sustainability?
Equitable insurance reimbursement from all payers for all categories of licensed midwives and for facility fees
A skilled and diverse midwifery workforce skilled to staff and operate birth centers
Community birth data collection to support quality improvement
Investments in building and supporting birth centers
We can make progress on this with targeted investments in the state budget and legislation that builds on our progress: state investments in birth centers by funding the state’s birth center grant fund and providing direct funds to support existing and upcoming birth centers; a new billed filed in 2025, “An Act promoting and enhancing the sustainability of birth centers and the midwifery workforce," (S.784/H.1117) filed by Senator Joan Lovely, Representative Manny Cruz, and Representative Lindsay Sabadosa. (Learn more and take action.)
What is a birth center?
Midwife-led care in the community
A freestanding birth center is a home-like setting providing midwifery-led and family-centered care to healthy pregnant people outside of the hospital.
Birth center care includes comprehensive prenatal, labor, birth and postpartum care from highly trained midwives. Birth centers can also provide a range of reproductive care and family planning. Birth center midwives provide continuous, supportive care, using interventions only when medically necessary. Birth centers are integrated into the healthcare system, referring patients to hospitals for consultation or transfer of care when needed.
Watch Neighborhood Birth Center’s 4-minute video sharing their vision for the reverberating impact of a birth center on the whole community.
Better Outcomes, Lower Cost
Many studies have shown the safety and benefits of midwifery care in community birth centers. One of them is the 2018 Strong Start study conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This study concluded that midwifery care in birth centers improved birth outcomes among Medicaid recipients, and outperformed other models and interventions.
40% fewer C-sections
26% fewer preterm births
21% lower health care costs
More about birth centers
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