There's a new fight in the ongoing controversy surrounding maternity care at a metro Detroit hospital.
Several people rallied outside of Ascension Providence Hospital in Southfield on Sunday afternoon to protest its decision to end midwifery services.
The services will end on March 1, and the cancellation is now forcing some expectant moms to change their delivery plans.
Women often choose midwives to improve birthing outcomes and avoid surgical birth.
The bombshell decision is likely to impact more than 100 women, according to Celeste Kraft, a doula with Gentle Spirit Doulas who works closely with midwives and patients.
Debbie McBain was a midwife for 30 years and said she started her career at Providence.
But, the 40-year-old program is slated to stop on March 1, a decision McBain believes is not only bad for business, but bad for women's health.
"The use of midwifery care for low-risk pregnancy saves lives of women," McBain said.
According to the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in low-risk pregnancies, using a midwife during labor is associated with decreased intervention and decreased cesarean.
"Our mortality rates in the U.S. being so bad, it's actually 3-4 times worse for Black women. Here we have a model in the middle of a city that is predominately Black," she said.
Kraft organized an online petition with more than 6,000 signatures, demanding Ascension reverse its decision.
A spokesperson for the hospital sent us a statemen that said in part, "moms and babies will continue to have access to the highest level of infant and obstetrical care including maternal-fetal medicine and neonatal specialty care"
But Kraft said that's misleading.
"The midwives staff, 75% of the births at the alternative birth center, if they go, the birth center is going to go eventually, it's just a matter of when," Kraft said.
