More than 150 rally to keep North Shore Birth Center open

Jun. 13—BEVERLY — More than 150 people, from pregnant women holding toddlers to children carrying signs, gathered outside Beverly Hospital on Monday afternoon for a rally to save the North Shore Birth Center.

Chanting "Save Our Birth Center, Save Our Choice," and "Beverly Hospital, Do Better," the crowd urged hospital officials to reverse their decision to close the North Shore Birth Center. The protestors got a boost from several politicians who spoke at the rally, including Congressman Seth Moulton, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, state Sen. Joan Lovely, and state Reps. Jamie Belsito, of Topsfield, and Paul Tucker, of Salem.

Speaking to the crowd through a bullhorn, Moulton called the gathering "a massive turnout."

"This shows how important this issue is to the North Shore," he said. "We live in a nation, in a national climate, that is taking away choice for women, that is taking away choice for mothers. We do not need that to happen right here on our home turf."

The rally was the the first public demonstration since Beverly Hospital announced last month that it plans to close the North Shore Shore Birth Center on Sept. 8, citing a staffing shortage. The announcement has prompted an organized effort to stop the closing as well as an unfair labor practice charge and a grievance filed by the union representing the midwives who work at the Birth Center. All six midwives will be laid off, according to the union.

Kaitlyn Krauskopf, a Swampscott resident who attended the rally with her 2 1/2 -year-old son, said she was "devastated" by the news of the closing. Krauskopf is 22 weeks pregnant and was a patient at the Birth Center. She said the closing forced her to seek alternatives and she is now planning on a home birth.

"I'm here because I believe women deserve a choice in where they give birth and how they give birth," she said.

'Tone deaf'

Belsito, the state representative from Topsfield who is also the founder of the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, said the closing is coming at a time when state government is advocating for more birth options for women as an issue of racial equity. She said the state Legislature recently approved funding for a new birth center in Dorchester.

"This is very tone deaf of them to shut down the only option (of its kind) in the entire 6th (Congressional) District," Belsito said.

Lovely, who is the Senate chair of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators and the Commission on Postpartum Depression, said the state is in a "maternal health crisis." She said access to birth centers results in lower C-section rates, fewer preterm births, and fewer emergency department visits.

"These outcomes cannot be ignored," Lovely said. "We need this birth center."

Several speakers talked about their experiences at the Birth Center. Danette Siegel of North Andover said the midwives helped her through three pregnancies and saved her from at least one C-section.

"They stood up for me," she said. "They advocated for me and they knew what I wanted and they trusted my body that it knew what it needed to do."

Tucker said his two grandsons were born at the Birth Center, while Salem School Committee member Manny Cruz said his daughter was born there during the pandemic.

"I know what this place means to families, what it means to mothers, what it means to fathers," Cruz said. "And I hope that I can have my next baby right here. We need to do all we can to save the North Shore Birth Center for our families and for our children."

Among the speakers was Judy Maxfield, a Rockport resident who helped start the North Shore Birth Center in 1980 when she was a labor and delivery nurse at Beverly Hospital. Maxfield recalled that the center's founders had to prove they could get a patient from the Birth Center, which is located on the hospital campus across the street from the hospital, in less than five minutes. She said Dr. Harry Ramini, the hospital's medical director at the time, volunteered to serve as the patient being carried on a stretcher.

"I believe that women need choice now more than ever," Maxfield said. "Remember that your daughters and your granddaughters need to have choice."

Other speakers included Beverly City Council President Julie Flowers and Leah Allen Cole, a former Peabody state representative who is running for lieutenant governor. All nine Beverly city councilors have signed a statement in support of keeping the Birth Center open.

Policy and statistics

Beverly Hospital President Tom Sands, through a spokesperson, declined to be interviewed. The hospital released a statement attributed to Dr. Mark Gendreau, its chief medical officer, saying the hospital "will continue to be a welcoming resource to women who are interested in seeing a midwife for their care."

Gendreau said the hospital will continue to offer midwife-assisted births at the hospital through its affiliation with OB-GYN practices that employ midwives, and doulas will also be available for women during labor.

"We recognize that the Birth Center has provided services that are valued by members of our community," Gendreau said. "We appreciate the opportunity hospital leaders had to meet with community residents to hear their perspectives and our commitment building upon our well-established and robust women's health service offerings and incorporate as much as the Birth Center experience into the hospital labor and delivery setting."

In a notice filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Friday, Sands said the hospital "does not anticipate a negative impact on patiuent access" following the closure of the Birth Center. He cited statistics saying that 70% of Birth Center patients over the last three years have delivered at Beverly Hospital.

Rebecca Hains, one of the organizers of the Campaign to Save the North Shore Birth Center group, said Birth Center patients who delivered in the hospital did so not by choice or medical necessity but because of hospital policy. She said the policy may have been related to the hospital's failure to properly address staffing levels to allow for the on-site births that Birth Center clients were hoping to have.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.