Medstar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC), Washington DC’s city’s largest hospital, announced it will close an entire postpartum unit in July 2026. This will cut off care to women when they need it the most, particularly low-income and women of color who face the highest risk of pregnancy-related complications. This is neither the time nor the place to eliminate postpartum health services.
The United States has the worst maternal mortality rate of any wealthy nation. Underlying that statistic are disparities in care across racial and socioeconomic lines. Black women in America are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts, a disparity that persists when controlling for income, education, and access to care.,
Washington DC ranks among the highest maternal mortality rates in the country (39 deaths per 100,000 live births). In the District, Black women account for over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths, despite being half the birthing population. Black women in Ward 5 (where Medstar is located) experience some of the greatest disparities in access to and quality of perinatal health services. Lower-income, immigrants, rural, and patients of color in Ward 5 also face elevated risks, as well.,
Rather than mitigating these risks, MWHC leadership is terminating care for these vulnerable populations, jeopardizing the lives of mothers and babies. Closing this postpartum unit is not an isolated incident. It is a direct consequence of federal disinvestment in Medicaid and health care programs women and children rely on.
Center for the American Family stands with nurses at Medstar Washington Hospital Center and calls on hospital leadership to reverse this closure immediately. We also call on every elected official in this region and in Congress to reckon with the direct line between federal funding cuts and the gutting of maternal and child health infrastructure in our communities. This closure will not be the last. Since 2020, over 100 rural labor and delivery units have closed. As long as Medicaid loses funding, perinatal health departments will continue to disappear and mothers and babies will continue to die.
We will not accept a country that underfunds, undervalues, and dismantles systems that mothers, babies, and families depend on to survive.
SOURCES:
1. CDC, Provisional Maternal Mortality Rates 2025
2. Lister RL, Drake W, Scott BH, Graves C. Black Maternal Mortality-The Elephant in the Room.
3. DC Health, Five Year Maternal and Child Health Needs Assessment Summary
4. DC Department of Health, Maternal Mortality Dashboard
5. Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, Perinatal Needs Assessment
6. Harvard Chan School of Public Health, Inequities in Maternal Mortality: A Focus on Undocumented Immigrants
7. The Commonwealth Fund, Maternal Mortality in the United States, 2025
8. Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform. Stopping the Loss of Rural Maternity Care