Save the North Shore Birth Center!

I saw this on the Mothering list-serv, which is very disappointing:

There is a very serious move to stop all births at the North Shore Birth Center. It is being recommended to the Board of Trustees of Northeast Health Corporation that all birth center patients be required to labor and birth at Beverly Hospital. NSBC would continue to provide Gyn and prenatal care at their current site.

On November 18th there will be a proposal to the Board of Trustees of Northeast Health Corporation to no longer allow women to labor or birth at the North Shore Birth Center. 

The North Shore Birth Center was established in 1980 to meet the needs of ‘low risk women’ wanting an alternative to home and hospital births. Since then the North Shore Birth Center has birthed over 6,494 babies, providing quality, low cost, compassionate care in an alternative setting.

Letters in support of the North Shore Birth Center can be sent to your local paper and to:

Northeast Health System’s Board of Trustees 
c/o Mary Ellen Lear, Secretary
Beverly Hospital
85 Herrick Street
Beverly, MA 01915

It seems so counterintuitive that birth centers like these and the Birthplace at Newton-Wellesley close when the demand seems to be on the rise. I suspect that the regulations for certified nurse midwives in this state aren’t helping the situation.