Sept. 28, 2022. Cambridge, MA. Community activists, union organizers and maternal health advocates rallied and marched at Beth Israel Lahey Health Cor
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28 September 2022Location:
Cambridge MassachusettsMore information:
Sept. 28, 2022. Cambridge, MA. Community activists, union organizers and maternal health advocates rallied and marched at Beth Israel Lahey Health Corporate in Cambridge to protest the closure of the North Shore Birth Center. Advocates of the NSBC are bringing their fight to the corporate executives responsible for eliminating an essential health care service and reproductive choice with the closure of the North Shore Birth Center. Despite a commitment in August to further review the birth center’s closure, Beth Israel Lahey Health has since forced pregnant patients to find new providers and canceled established well care appointments. The health system has taken no action to recruit or retain midwives, assure access to services, nor address unacceptable gaps in care for pregnant patients, many in their third trimesters. The North Shore Birth Center is the last free-standing, midwifery-led birth center in eastern Massachusetts. It has provided vital maternity care and women’s health services to the region for more than 40 years, supporting more than 10, 000 births. Its closure is opposed by thousands of community members, maternal health advocates, and local, state and federal elected officials. Overwhelming data and evidence points to the need for more birth centers to improve maternal health outcomes, address racial health disparities and lower costs. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and Rep. Seth Moulton, said closing the center “will deny women a choice in birth options and reproductive care, pushing patients away from more affordable, high-quality care into more expensive, hospital-based care.” © 2022 Marilyn Humphries