Bill to Protect Rural Maternity Care Becomes Law

PHOTO: Union nurses protest the closure of Mount Desert Island Hospital’s (MDIH) obstetrics department in 2025.

A bill to protect rural maternity care has just become law. Nurses, healthcare workers and working people in rural areas have been hit hard by hospital unit closures, including a rash of birthing unit closures in Maine. Maine has lost 33 percent of rural hospital labor and delivery units since 2020, and people in rural towns drive an average of 45 minutes to the nearest birthing hospital. LD 2189, sponsored by Rep. Kristi Mathieson (D-Kittery) will:

• Require hospitals to notify the public and the department at least 120 days before the termination of, or change in the level of, maternity or newborn care services. It requires the hospital to give a reason for termination and a plan for maternity emergencies and it requires notifications to surrounding hospitals, local EMS, and affected patients.
• Provide opportunities for communities to think about how they can act collectively to address closures - especially when it always seems like women’s and children’s services go out the door first.
• This bill is a small, but important first step. There needs to be a long-term solution where health care is treated as a human right. In the meantime, we believe additional action is needed to require acute care hospitals to maintain obstetrics, birthing, pediatrics, and surgical services.

“We need every tool possible to stop the maternity care crisis here in Maine," said Julianna Hansen, a Maine State Nurses Association member and Maine Med Steward. "This new law is an important step in the right direction.”