Hannah Pingree is the Democratic nominee for governor of Maine.
A baby doesn’t always wait for good weather, for a long drive to a hospital an hour away, or adequate staffing from a midwife or doctor. But across Maine, more families are being asked to bet on all three, or hope for the best.
In the last decade, Maine has lost 12 hospital-based birthing units. Nine of those closures
came in just the past few years. It’s happening from the coast to The County, in nearly every corner of the state — Waldo, Aroostook, Hancock, and now Lincoln County.
That’s why I’ve called for a statewide moratorium on labor and delivery closures for one full year, starting when the next governor takes office.
This is not a campaign slogan. It’s an urgent request for serious policy work, coordination and a statewide approach to an issue that will define Maine and whether we are a state that welcomes families and has a vibrant future.
One year will give us time to enact new funding and shared-staffing models that local doctors and nurses have proposed — like combined OB and primary-care staffing, and regional funding pools that have worked in other states — and to put new federal and state dollars to work. No more communities should lose their birthing units before real alternatives are on the table.
The leaders and board of MaineHealth are deciding right now whether Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta is next to close.
Let me be direct: the board should say no. No family in Lincoln County should be left without a safe place to give birth close to home.
I also want to recognize the community members who refused to let this issue remain in the shadows. The Miles Delivers Action Coalition turned concern into a movement of families, community members and healthcare providers. Many of its leaders are overcommitted working parents — especially moms — who still found time to organize, advocate and speak out. They knocked on doors, packed public hearings and made sure decision-makers could not look away. Because of their persistence, Mainers across the state are paying attention and
demanding solutions.
I know something about the challenges rural families face, raising two kids on an offshore
island. It’s an hour ride by state ferry, then 10 more minutes to our nearest hospital. In winter, that ferry gets rough and sometimes it’s canceled because it’s not safe to run. As I got close to my due date with both of my kids, I packed a bag and went to the mainland early, just so labor wouldn’t catch me on the wrong side of the bay. I made it in time. But I was lucky — I had somewhere to stay, and a flexible job.
Many families don’t have that safety net. A safe place to deliver your baby shouldn’t depend on luck, a friend with an extra bed or good weather. It should be something Maine families can count on. But rural families now drive 45 minutes on average to reach a hospital to have their babies — the longest average drive time in New England. That number has a cost: ambulances tied up for hours, unavailable for the next heart attack; babies arriving with more complications because of delayed delivery and reduced prenatal care options.
This is fixable. But it takes a plan and action, not wishful thinking.
We need to start with the money. Washington has touted a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund, and Maine is receiving approximately $150 million a year from it. But the rules cap direct provider payments at 15% of each award and the rest must go toward things like technology and infrastructure, not payments for the care and providers we are now at risk of losing due to new federal cuts.
As governor, I’ll press our congressional delegation to lift that cap, so Maine can put the money toward the providers our rural hospitals need. I’ll also convene a statewide maternity care summit in my first months in office — hospital leaders, OB-GYNs, family doctors, midwives, state policy leaders and the families living this every day — all in one room, collaborating on the kind of solutions that will support both short- and long-term changes needed.
We need to know why units are really closing and we need real alternatives on the table: shared primary and OB-GYN care, expanded midwifery, mobile health units, telemedicine — plus support for the units still standing. The stakes are high for the safety of our moms and babies.
But this isn’t only a health issue, it’s an economic one.
Young families ask if there’s a hospital nearby before they put down roots. Employers recruiting workers need to know a community can care for their children. Losing a birthing unit means losing a reason for families to stay.
People in Lincoln County have been asking a hard question lately: what happens if you can’t be born here, and you can only die here? Here’s the answer: it doesn’t have to be that way. Not if we act now. Maine doesn’t have to accept this as inevitable. It’s a policy choice, and I hope we’re ready to make a different one.