Birth Center Week 2023
September 14-20, 2023 marks the first ever Birth Center Week, an event started by the national non-profit Birth Center Equity to "celebrate and elevate the impact and potential of birth centers, with a focus on community birth centers that provide safe, culturally-reverent, midwifery-led health care for all." We are celebrating Massachusetts birth centers past, present, and future.
-> Present: Seven Sisters Midwifery & Birth Center in Northampton
First, we want to celebrate the phenomenal work of the state's only operating birth center, Seven Sisters, which opened its doors in August 2020. Seven Sisters provides compassionate care to families in Western Massachusetts, and an accessible out-of-hospital option for reproductive care and birth that is covered by insurance or MassHealth. We are eternally grateful for beloved midwives Ginny Miller and the late Kirsten Kowalski-Lane for their vision and tenacity in creating a new birth option and paving the way for more to follow.
-> Future: Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston
This non-profit is preparing to open Boston’s first freestanding birth center in Nubian Square, Roxbury. Neighborhood Birth Center is founded and led by Black women to realize a decades-long dream for a birth center in Boston. We are so excited to see the birth center doors open!
-> Past (& Future): Cambridge Birth Center
For over 20 years, Cambridge Birth Center provided care for birthing people and families in Greater Boston. We honor the midwives who provided compassionate care and an accessible birth option. We appreciate the persistence of community members and leaders who have been working with Cambridge Health Alliance to reopen the birth center. Though Cambridge Birth Center has been closed since 2020, we are eager and hopeful to see it reopen.
-> Past: North Shore Birth Center in Beverly
We honor the legacy of North Shore Birth Center which provided care to families for 40 years before closing in 2022. We honor the midwives who provided compassionate care to generations of families, and the community members who fought admirably to keep the birth center open. The legacy of this birth center continues despite its closure by Beth Israel Lahey Health which drew a huge outcry from community members and leaders. We hope to see successful community-led efforts to restore access by opening a new birth center in the future.
-> Future: birth centers to serve every community in Massachusetts
Did you know that there are now 400 birth centers across the United States? While Massachusetts only has 1 birth center open today, New Hampshire has 4, Washington has 21, Florida has 32, California has 56, and Texas has 92. We know there are midwives and community groups who are dreaming of and working on opening more birth centers throughout Massachusetts. Every community deserves access to midwifery care and birth centers!
Take action for pro-midwife, pro-birth center policies in Massachusetts.
