Sen. Henry Ingwersen, D-York, and Rep. Michele Meyer, D-Eliot, serve as co-chairs of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.
 
Pregnancy and childbirth should be an exciting, happy time for expecting parents. But a growing lack of access to nearby maternity care is leaving far too many Maine families in a difficult — and potentially dangerous — situation.
 
Since 2015, eleven hospital birthing centers across Maine have closed their doors. That includes the center at our own local hospital in York County, which closed in 2023. These closures have left many communities with no nearby hospital that fully meets the needs of growing families.
 
Now, MaineHealth is considering a proposal to close the birthing center at Lincoln Hospital’s Miles Campus, the only remaining labor and delivery unit in Lincoln County. We oppose this proposal and hope that MaineHealth leaders will reject it.
 
Research shows that rates of negative health outcomes increase when birthing centers close — including the rates of preterm births, death and disability and mothers and babies who need to be admitted to the intensive care unit.
 
Increased travel to and from maternity care also adds to what can already be a significant financial and emotional burden. It means taking additional time off from work and higher transportation costs. For expecting parents who already have children, it puts them farther from their older kids. Living in a community without a birthing center can even mean needing to pay for a place to stay close to the hospital as delivery draws near.
 
Because of the risks and associated costs, the loss of a birthing center could even deter young families from choosing to live and work in an area where they might otherwise want to locate. This represents a real problem for employers, who we know are already struggling to fill job openings.
 
Our opposition to the proposed closure of the Miles birthing center is not without recognizing the problems facing Maine’s healthcare systems. We know well that Maine’s healthcare providers are dealing with very real challenges. As co-chairs of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, we grapple with these issues every day.
 
Our workforce is aging, and we don’t have enough new healthcare workers entering these professions to replace those who are retiring. It is difficult to recruit enough specialist doctors and nurses to hospitals and doctor’s offices in many rural areas of our state.
 
Additionally, federal funding cuts have profoundly destabilized our healthcare system. Last year, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law H.R. 1, which slashed important programs that support our hospitals and healthcare services. H.R. 1 alone is expected to cost Maine’s healthcare systems as much as $3 billion over the next decade. 
 
In some Maine communities that have lost birthing centers, the problem is simple: There just are not very many babies born each year. In areas with stagnant or declining birth rates, it may be difficult to retain skilled healthcare providers and maintain a dedicated labor and delivery unit.
 
While that has been the case for some of the birthing centers that have closed in recent years, notably, it is not the problem in Lincoln County. In fact, deliveries at Miles increased 43% between 2019 and 2024. MaineHealth has also not demonstrated that this decision is financially necessary.
 
We are parents and grandparents ourselves. We know firsthand the joy, wonder and hope of welcoming a baby into the world. We also know it is one of life’s most pivotal moments, during which Maine families need and deserve skilled support and the highest quality care close to home.
 
There are real problems facing healthcare in Maine, and we are committed to solving them. But closing MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital’s Miles birthing center is not a solution. It is a misguided proposal that will only harm local families.
 
MaineHealth’s leadership is scheduled to take a final vote on the fate of the Lincoln Hospital birthing center on Aug. 6. We urge them to postpone a final decision — or, better yet, to commit to preserving these vital services.