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When Hospitals Vanish, Mothers Die: Why Giving Birth Is Riskier in These US States
- Pregnant South Dakota resident Shelsey Klein confronted Winner Regional Hospital in early 2024 over the planned closure of its labor and delivery unit announced via social media.
- The hospital delayed the unit's closure from February to March after community pushback, as rural hospital labor wards close due to physician shortages and financial pressures.
- South Dakota has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation and a growing number of maternal care deserts, with 58% of its counties lacking birthing facilities—an issue that disproportionately impacts tribal communities.
- Since closing its labor and delivery unit, Winner Regional Hospital has had to deliver two babies in the emergency room, and approximately 80% of infants born there last year were covered by Medicaid, a program facing possible federal funding reductions.
- Experts warn that continued rural hospital closures and Medicaid cuts could worsen maternal health risks, forcing more women to deliver far from care or under unsafe conditions.
14 Articles
14 Articles
When Hospitals Vanish, Mothers Die: Why Giving Birth Is Riskier in These US States
The rapid erosion of the maternity care infrastructure in the United States threatens to worsen the ongoing Black maternal health crisis and will increase the demand and need for birth workers, including midwives and doulas. Read more from our latest Quick Figure. READ MOREThe post When Hospitals Vanish, Mothers Die: Why Giving Birth Is Riskier in These US States first appeared on IWPR.The post When Hospitals Vanish, Mothers Die: Why Giving Birth
The Daily Republic
Labor and delivery closures drive South Dakota to a maternal care ‘precipice’
Shelsey Klein was 33 weeks pregnant and crying when she stormed into the Winner Regional Health CEO’s office. She found out through social media in December that the hospital planned to close its labor and delivery unit in February, a week before she was due to deliver her baby. She and her husband lectured the CEO about the stress the announcement put on their family and asked him what families like theirs were expected to do. “You don’t tell a…
hubcityspokes.com
Nearly 70 percent of Mississippi rural hospitals don’t deliver babies; new report shows trend is growing nationwide
Rural hospitals across the country are shuttering their labor and delivery doors, leaving millions of women – including Mississippians – without maternity care.
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