Alabama has the second-highest infant mortality rate. And more rural hospitals are closing, leaving tens of thousands without convenient access to health care. That includes expectant mothers. A bill to decriminalize midwifery passed in the legislature last year. Now some physicians and nonprofits say for mothers-to-be, birth centers are a way to provide cheaper and safer prenatal care and delivery. But for that to happen, Medicaid would have to cover birth centers.

Gigi Douban, WBHM, May 4, 2018.

URL: news.wbhm.org/feature/2018/an-alternative-to-delivering-babies-at-the-hospital/