North Shore to Rally to Keep Birthing Options Open
MEDIA ALERT
Contact: Christa Terry
Phone: (978) 922-4970
christadterry@gmail.com
BEVERLY, MA—Today, beginning at 6:30 a.m., hundreds of members of the grassroots Campaign to Save the North Shore Birth Center in Beverly, MA, along with parents, children, and supportive community members, will demonstrate on Herrick Street in front of Beverly Hospital. Beverly Hospital is on the brink of denying natural childbirth to families of the North Shore—a potentially devastating blow to women’s reproductive choices. On the morning of the rally, the Board of Trustees of the Northeast Health Corporation will likely vote on a proposal to end the North Shore Birth Center’s 27-year history of facilitating natural childbirths. If it passes, all patients will be required to labor and birth in the hospital.
WHEN
The rally will begin today, rain or shine, beginning at 6:30 a.m. WHERE In Beverly, MA,midwife advocates will line up along the Herrick Street sidewalk between Heather Street and Beverly Hospital's back entrance. If more space is needed, the rally will expand toward Sohier Road.
WHO
More than 300 mothers, fathers, parents-to-be, children, and supporters from surrounding communities are expected to participate. Speakers ranging from childbirth experts to parents who labored at the Birth Center to the children born there will lend their voices to the cause, speaking on behalf of both natural childbirth and the North Shore Birth Center.
WHAT
Established in 1980, the North Shore Birth Center has facilitated the births of more than 6,000 babies to women with “low-risk” pregnancies seeking a natural childbirth. The Birth Center offers quality, compassionate care in an alternative birth setting. Media inquiries should be directed to Christa Terry at (978) 922-4970, christadterry@gmail.com.
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Background
The North Shore Birth Center is a midwifery practice situated on the campus of Beverly Hospital. On Tuesday, Nov. 18, the Board of Trustees of the Northeast Health Corporation will consider a proposal to no longer allow women to labor or birth at the Birth Center. This proposal did not originate from the Board; it is being brought before them by hospital management. If the Board approves this proposal, all birth center patients would be required to labor and birth at Beverly Hospital.
The members of the Campaign to Save the North Shore Birth Center are against this proposal and are rallying to strongly urge the Board of Trustees to vote against it. Women deserve to choose the birth experience that is right for them and their families. Campaign members are asking the Board of Trustees to refrain from making a decision that would deny this choice to families of the North Shore.
The members of the Campaign to Save the North Shore Birth Center are not affiliated with the North Shore Birth Center or Beverly Hospital.
Um, Beverly Hospital can't deny women the right to natural childbirth. They don't have the power to give a woman drugs against her will.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that North Shore needs money more than protesters. If every one of those protesters gave $100 I'm sure North Shore would able to afford the malpractice premium. Vote with your wallets, folks! In end, dollars means more than placards.
Yeah, agreed--wording was the press releases', not mine.
ReplyDeleterixa -
ReplyDeleteUnderstood. It just irritated me because it supports the fallacy that a hospital can force a woman to have drugs she doesn't want.