Alabama’s maternity care crisis

In less than a year, four hospitals in Alabama have closed their labor and delivery departments, making it harder for women to access maternity care. This is dangerous for mothers and their babies. Closing the health insurance coverage gap through Medicaid expansion is an essential part of the solution.

Get the Facts

Where you live shouldn’t impact your safety in childbirth, but many women in South Alabama will now have to drive over an hour to deliver their babies. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Read this fact sheet to learn how Medicaid expansion could help prevent future birthing unit closures and improve maternal health outcomes in Alabama.

Tell your lawmakers: Expand Medicaid to save moms and babies!

A rural hospital in south Alabama, Grove Hill Memorial Hospital, closed its labor and delivery department recently. As a result, women from the area may have to drive more than an hour to deliver their babies. This is dangerous for both mothers and their babies. Evidence shows that the farther a woman must travel to receive maternity care, the greater the risk that a mother and her baby could lose their lives.

Take action to prevent this from happening to more mothers and babies.

Report: Alabama women need medicaid expansion (2023)

Alabama mothers face many barriers to good health. The state faces high maternal and infant mortality rates, high rates of uninsurance among women of childbearing age, and worsening access to maternity care providers. But the research is clear, Alabama women of reproductive age will be greatly helped when the state expands Medicaid. Read this report to learn more.

Undeliverable: a maternal healthcare crisis

Fox 10 Mobile investigates why labor and delivery units are closing in Alabama and what can be done to solve the crisis.

From the story: “I would be terrified. I would absolutely choose to get an induction just to prevent going into labor here, because, say, I had a hemorrhage in Jackson or Grove Hill, and there’s no OB. They cannot fly you out while you’re hemorrhaging.”

OP-ED: Doctor’s plea to close the Alabama Medicaid coverage gap: moms and babies at risk

This op-ed by Dr. Max Rogers, an OBGYN from south Alabama, explains why birthing unit closures are deadly for moms and children and offers a solution: Medicaid expansion.

“Expanding this coverage to more families means better healthcare options for everyone, hope for rural medical care, and healthier babies. It means that mothers and babies in Alabama will have more access to the physician-led care they deserve, and, hopefully, the return of Brahms’ ‘Lullaby.’ It is so very simple: It’s the right thing to do.”

Op-ed: Alabama moms and babies are dying. It doesn’t have to be this way.

This op-ed by Honour Hill, Director of Maternal and Infant Health Initiatives in Alabama at the March of Dimes, explains how expanding Medicaid coverage could help improve maternal and infant health in our state.

“Mothers in Alabama have an incredibly high vulnerability to poor outcomes, making it imperative that they have access to care before, during and after pregnancy to ensure the best outcomes possible. It’s time to close the health care coverage gap to ensure Alabama families are healthy and strong.”