Save the Brooklyn Birthing Center! The Brooklyn Birthing Center is the only one of its kind in the entire state of New York. Recently it has come under grave threat, as Medicaid has just cut its funding. If the funding does not become reinstated, the center will be forced to close. This would limit pregnant women who wanted to give birth at the center to only hospitals or their homes. Medicaid’s reimbursement rate to the Brooklyn Birthing Center was slashed without warning or explanation, leaving many currently pregnant women who were planning to have their babies at the BBC infringed on.
Many couples choose the Brooklyn Birthing Center to deliver their babies because of the relaxed, stress-free environment and committed staff. These couples deserve the right to choose not to deliver their babies in costly hospitals and to have their options. The other difference from a hospital, besides the costs, of a birth at the BBC is that the typical stay is less than 24 hours. Also anesthesia is rarely used, the patients bring their own food, and the BBC midwives visit the new parents in their homes once they’re discharged.
Cutting funding to the Brooklyn Birthing Center discriminates against an entire group of people wanting to give birth there. There will be a protest of the cut today in front of Healthplus (the branch of Medicaid for pregnant women) at 335 Adams Street in Brooklyn at 12:30 p.m. Show your support!
