18 maternity service closures in 2025

A Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform report found that less than 42% of U.S. rural hospitals still offer labor and delivery services. That same report found more than 100 rural hospitals have halted or plan to stop delivering babies since 2020.

Becker’s has reported on the following hospitals ending maternity care in 2025, along with closure plans, pauses and transfer statuses:

1. Memorial Hospital Biloxi (Miss.) has shared plans to end its obstetrics services and transfer them to Memorial Hospital Gulfport (Miss.) on Sept. 1. The hospitals are part of Memorial Hospital System in Gulfport.

2. Kansas City, Mo.-based Research Medical Center, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare’s HCA Midwest Health, will shutter its neonatal ICU and end labor and delivery services on Sept. 8. The hospital conducts regular reviews and found that it has seen a more than 80% decrease in community use for both services.

3. Jackson South Medical Center, part of Jackson Health System, both in Miami, closed its maternity ward unit on Aug. 15.

4. Morristownville, Vt.-based Copley Hospital plans to close its birthing center after its board voted June 17 to shutter it and transition to a regional care model. The hospital pointed to a low birth rate across the state and limited resources.

5. Missoula, Mont.-based Providence St. Patrick Hospital has shared plans to close its family maternity center due to existing and expected healthcare industry challenges, including a declining birth rate and workforce shortages.

6. Burlington, Kan.-based Coffey County Hospital ended its obstetrics services on June 30.

7. Houlton (Maine) Regional Hospital ended its inpatient labor and delivery unit May 2, due to a decline in volume.

8. Corydon, Ind.-based Harrison County Hospital ended its obstetric services March 31 after evaluating national physician recruitment challenges.

9. Bar Harbor, Maine-based Mount Desert Island Hospital ended its labor and delivery unit on July 1 due to a “dramatic decline in births.”

10. Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health closed its Bloomin’ Babies Birth Center in Grand Junction, Colo., on March 28 due to a declining birth rate and an unsustainable decrease in new patients at the freestanding birth center.

11. UPMC Cole Hospital, a 25-bed facility in Coudersport, Pa., closed its three-bed obstetrics unit on April 7. UPMC is consolidating services at UPMC Wellsboro (Pa.) Hospital.

12. La Junta, Colo.-based Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center ended its obstetrics services on April 30 due to challenges like low monthly birth rates, underfunding by the Colorado Medicaid program for obstetric services and financial losses.

13. Brewer, Maine-based Northern Light Health closed birthing services at Northern Light Inland Hospital and at Northern Light Women’s Health, both in Waterville, Maine, on March 1.

14. Winner (S.D.) Regional Health closed its labor and delivery services Feb. 1 due to physician recruitment challenges and reimbursement difficulties.

15. Stuart, Fla.-based Cleveland Clinic Martin North Hospital closed its labor and delivery services April 1 and transferred them to Port St. Lucie, Fla.-based Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital. The service changes are the result of a comprehensive evaluation to optimize care delivery, address local and national OB-GYN staffing shortages, and focus resources on key areas.

16. ThedaCare Medical Center Waupaca (Wis.) ended labor and delivery services Feb. 15 due to a demand shift among expectant mothers, and a decline in deliveries and mothers looking to deliver at larger birth centers.

17. Belfast-based MaineHealth Waldo Hospital ended its obstetrics and labor and delivery services on April 1.

18. Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont, Minn., closed its surgical and labor and delivery units on March 31. The closure was due to a shortage of physicians in the area.

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