Community birth centers support health equity.

Birth center care improves outcomes, enhances the birth experience, and reduces disparities.  For Black, Indigenous, people of color who face the worst care and poorest outcomes, birth centers offer a safe, community-centered alternative to hospital birth.

Black and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women have higher rates of pregnancy-related death compared to White women. Based on an analysis of publicly available data from CDC WONDER online database, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) National Vital Statistics Reports, CDC Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System, and a report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), a 2022 study concluded that pregnancy-related mortality rates among Black and AIAN women are over three and two times higher, respectively, compared to the rate for White women (41.4 and 26.2 vs. 13.7 per 100,000). Black, AIAN, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) women also have higher shares of preterm births, low birthweight births, or births for which they received late or no prenatal care compared to White women. Infants born to Black, AIAN, and NHOPI people have markedly higher mortality rates than those born to White women. Maternal death rates increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and racial disparities widened for Black women.

The birth center model of care supports families in not only their clinical care but also addresses social, behavioral, mental health, nutritional needs through direct care coordination and follow-up. In community birth centers led by Black, Indigenous, people of color, midwives are often representative of the communities in which they serve, and families are more likely to feel seen, heard and affirmed in their life experiences and cultural traditions.