CA hospitals close labor wards, limiting maternity care - CalMatters

With fewer births, California hospitals are ending labor and delivery services. The closures limit maternity care in rural and lower-income communities.

In summary As maternal mortality rates are steadily worsening across California, a CalMatters analysis finds that maternity wards are closing at an alarming rate. From 2012 to 2019, at least 19 California hospitals stopped offering labor and delivery services. Six of those hospitals closed completely. In an accelerating trend, sixteen more closed their maternity wards from 2020 to 2022. So far in 2023, eleven more have announced maternity ward closures, including one hospital that completely closed. After El Centro Regional Medical Center closed its maternity ward in January, Imperial…

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