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NYC needs more birthing centers to reduce maternal deaths. There are only 2, report says.
By
Karen Yi
Published Apr 19, 2025
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By
Karen Yi
Published Apr 19, 2025
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Black women continue dying at higher rates than white women during pregnancy and childbirth, despite local policy improvements, a new report by the New York City public advocate found.
Maternal deaths are nine times higher for Black women than white women, the annual report released this week shows. Though Black women made up the largest share of deaths between 2018 and 2021, the most recent numbers show a slight improvement.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who released the report, said the latest data shows changes to city and state legislation are working, though more still needs to be done.
“We are on a path now that will definitely save lives as we move forward,” he said. ”The groundwork has been laid and people are finally talking about this the way they should be talking about it.”
Williams said the city needs to eliminate the barriers to building more birthing centers and create a pipeline of midwives to staff them. Birthing centers are usually staffed by midwives and provide few medical interventions. But there are only two such centers in the city, both of which are in Brooklyn.
The report calls on the state and city to mandate hospitals work with midwife-led birthing centers and eliminate licensing and zoning laws that make it too costly to build more centers.
The report shows the number of maternal deaths has increased in the last few years. There were 30 maternal deaths in 2021, 36% of whom were Black women. Black women accounted for 41% in the previous year, the data show.
The persisting disparities can be traced to inadequate prenatal and postpartum care. In 2023, 27% of Black mothers reported inadequate prenatal care in the Bronx, 26% of Black mothers reported inadequate prenatal care in Manhattan, and 20% in Queens.
“The way that we do this in the hospital hasn't worked and we just really have to change it to center the person, center the baby, and the mother in a way that hasn't been happening in care up until now,” Williams said.
He said the Trump administration’s purge of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and its threats to Medicaid funding — which half of New Yorkers rely on — further underscores the need to strengthen local laws to make birthing for people of color safer.
Gov. Kathy Hochul recently allowed pregnant people to get paid sick time for prenatal appointments and the city offers resources such as providing specially trained nurses and doulas to pregnant people in certain neighborhoods.
The report supports a number of other proposed bills at the local and state level that include better screening for maternal depression, better informing patients about the risk of a C-section and exempting doulas from parking violations when providing services.
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new york city
Health and Science
Race And Justice Unit
health
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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