Ignored and In Pain: Why Birth Center Equity Can't Wait & How Community Birth Centers Bridge the Equity Gap

lauren8615
3 days ago
4 min read

A video has been circulating across social media this week showing a Black woman in a wheelchair, clearly in active labor, being dismissed by a triage nurse as she pleads for help. As a labor and delivery nurse myself, I watched this video with heartbreak and disbelief — but unfortunately, not surprise.

When someone in labor sounds like that — when her voice changes, when she can barely speak between contractions, when she is telling you that birth is imminent — every experienced nurse knows exactly what to do.

You get help. You get her into a room. You prepare for a baby. You move.

Not because of protocol. Because of humanity.

And because when a woman — especially a Black woman — says she needs help, we should believe her the first time.

A Black pregnant woman in pain in labor in a wheelchair.

What We Saw in That Video Was More Than a Moment — It Was a Symptom

I don’t know the protocols at that hospital. I don’t know if that was the ER or the L&D triage area. I don’t know where the rest of the team was. But I do know this:

What we witnessed was a failure of empathy, urgency, communication, teamwork and safety — and far too many Black families experience these failures in maternity care every day.

It looked like:

Desensitization
Compassion fatigue
Systemic bias
Understaffing
A culture that normalizes suffering

This is not how any hospital or birth center I’ve ever worked with would have handled this situation. In L&D, when you hear a voice like hers, the whole team moves. Other nurses cover your patients. Someone grabs supplies. Someone calls the provider. You act together, because birth does not wait.

And yet, in too many places in this country, Black birthing people are still dismissed or delayed or denied care until it’s too late.

Birth Centers Offer a Different Model — One Rooted in Safety and Respect

Birth centers are not a fringe option. They are:

Evidence-based
Statistically safe for low-risk pregnancies
Shown to reduce rates of obstetric racism and unnecessary interventions
Proven to improve outcomes for Black families

But here’s the reality most people don’t know:

There are only about 400 birth centers in the entire U.S. compared to about 6,000 hospitals.

Birth centers are scarce not because families don’t want them — but because:

Antiquated Certificate of Need (CON) laws block them
Reimbursement is inequitable
Insurance payments are delayed or denied
Many founders are midwives and nurses and were never taught business operations, financial management or systems development
They simply cannot afford the help they need to survive

As someone who works closely with birth centers, I see the same pattern repeated: They are doing everything they can to provide safe, compassionate care — but they are drowning behind the scenes.

Many Birth Centers Are One Financial Crisis Away From Closing

Most don’t realize that when a birth center closes, it isn’t just a business shutting down.

Every closure takes away:

a safe place for low-risk families to give birth,
a culturally affirming environment where families feel respected,
an alternative to hospital settings where racism is too often present,
a community anchor for midwifery-led, relationship-based care.

And the communities most harmed are Black, brown, rural and low-income families.

This is why I’ve created something new — something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but finally felt called to launch after watching this viral video.

Introducing the Birth Center Collective Equity & Excellence Fund

This fund is designed to directly support the birth centers that need help the most — the ones serving communities where hospital-based maternity racism is most acute, the ones fighting to stay open, the ones doing the critical work with limited resources.

This is not a tax-deductible donation. It’s a social impact investment in equity and safety.

All contributions to the Birth Center Collective Equity & Excellence Fund will be used to provide service credits to birth centers for:

Financial sustainability support
Operational systems development
Birth center audits
Managerial training
Compliance support
Courses, workshops and webinars

Many centers desperately need operational and financial expertise — but cannot pay for it. You can help close that gap.

When we strengthen birth centers, we strengthen:

maternal outcomes
equity
patient safety
community care
long-term sustainability

And ultimately, we help prevent the exact scenarios we witnessed in that video.

How Your Donation Advances Birth Center Equity

Your support makes it possible for a birth center to:

build financial systems that keep their doors open,
strengthen operations before small issues become crises,
develop strong managerial skills so supervisors can lead confidently,
strengthen safety and quality protocols,
remain stable so families don’t lose another safe birth option.

For many centers, this support can mean the difference between staying open or closing their doors.

Supporting Visibility Is Part of Saving Birth Centers

The first step in accessing safe maternity care is knowing where to find it.

That’s why I also maintain the National Birth Center Directory — a free resource for families to locate birth centers in their area.

Donations to the fund help ensure the directory remains:

free
maintained
accurate
accessible

More visibility → more clients → more sustainability → fewer birth center closures.

My Birthday Month Offer: 50% Off Birth Center Systems Audits

To celebrate my birthday and to raise awareness for this new fund, I’m offering 50% off my Birth Center Systems Audit for the month.

This is one of the most impactful ways birth centers can strengthen operations, uncover risks and develop clear next steps toward sustainability.

If You’re Outraged by the Video — Help Build the Solution

We can critique the hospital system all day. We can demand accountability. We can call out the failures we saw in that moment.

But we also need to invest in the alternatives we know are working.

Birth centers are one of the strongest, safest answers we have — but only if they can thrive.

👉 Donate to the Birth Center Collective Equity & Excellence Fund

Your contribution helps community birth centers strengthen their financial systems, improve operations, and continue offering safe, compassionate, equitable care to families who need it most. Donate here.