COVID-19’s Impact on Childbirth: The Growing Popularity of Out-of-Hospital Deliveries and Barriers to Access
Law & Policy InsightsCOVID-19COVID-19 and Health EquityMaternal and Child HealthIncreased fear over the safety of hospitals along with policies designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including limiting the number of guests allowed in delivery rooms, mandating inductions or caesarian sections, and separating newborns from birthing parents suspected of having COVID-19, has driven many families to make the decision to give birth at home or at a birthing center. The increased demand for out-of-hospital deliveries has quickly overwhelmed the limited number of birth centers and midwives providing home birth services in the U.S.–highlighting a gap in the country’s healthcare system. Changes in state licensure schemes and practice regulations for midwives and birthing centers could make out-of-hospital births more accessible and affordable.