Oasis Family Birthing Center et. al. v. Alabama Department of Public Health

The lawsuit comes after ADPH created significant, unjustified barriers to the operation of birth centers that provide midwife-led care by asserting that all such birth centers require a “hospital” license, even though they exclusively provide midwifery care to low-risk patients using a model of care that is safely provided in out-of-hospital settings across the country. ADPH’s onerous, hospital-like regulations for birth centers are clinically unnecessary and would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for them to operate at all.
The lawsuit brings several statutory and constitutional claims against ADPH, including:
• ADPH lacks the authority to require birth centers to obtain a hospital license because midwife-led birth centers do not constitute “hospitals” under Alabama law.
• Even if ADPH has licensing authority, its unreasonably burdensome and unnecessary regulations violate Alabama law and the constitutional rights of midwives, pregnant patients, and individuals who own and operate birth centers.
ADPH’s unlawful actions are exacerbating an already severe crisis for pregnant Alabamians or those seeking to become pregnant. The state has the third highest maternal mortality rate in the nation, with Black women making up a disproportionate share of maternal deaths. Alabama also has the sixth highest infant mortality rate in the nation, with Black infants making up a disproportionate number of these deaths. One factor playing into this concerning trend is the growing number of maternal health deserts in the state. More than two-thirds — or 43 out of 64 — counties in Alabama have little to no access to maternity care. To address this disparity, midwives and providers are working to open birth centers to provide safe and welcoming environments for low-risk patients to access much-needed prenatal care and birthing services, especially for those who have decided that giving birth at home or in a hospital is not the right place for them to deliver, or impossible due to the lack of maternal care available in their area.
The lawsuit, Oasis Family Birthing Center et. al. v. Alabama Department of Public Health, was filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court in Montgomery by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Alabama, and Bobby Segall of Copeland Franco on behalf of Oasis Family Birthing Center in Birmingham, Heather Skanes, M.D., Alabama Birth Center in Huntsville, Yashica Robinson, M.D., the Alabama affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, Jo Crawford, CPM, and Tracie Stone, CPM.