A mother and father are demanding policy changes at a northwest Indiana hospital after they claim they were turned away and left to deliver their own baby on the side of the road.

The parents said they spent six hours at Franciscan Health in Crown Point. Instead of being greeted and treated with empathy, they said they were ultimately sent out the door with a security escort.

Minutes after leaving the hospital, Mercedes Wells delivered her baby with the help of her husband, Leon, in the front seat of the family's car.

"We walked out of the hospital at 6:20 in the morning, Sunday morning, and the baby came eight minutes later," she said.

"The baby came out, and I just didn't know what to do. I just prayed and asked God for guidance," Leon said.

Now, the couple has a new baby girl and a new attorney.

"This is an endemic problem. It's happening all across the country," attorney Cannon Lambert said.

The Wells family said they called ahead to the ER, knowing baby Alena was coming two weeks early.

"I was met with really stern faces. Like, no welcoming faces as I usually would get when I go to a hospital, a place of care," Mercedes said.

She said that a nurse who checked on her said she wasn't far enough along and seemed intent on sending her away.

"I was in excruciating pain. She seen me in pain and agony, and I guess she still perceived me to not be in labor," she said.

Her contractions were just a minute apart, but the mother of four says she was discharged on the doctor's orders without ever seeing one.

"Accountability looks like making certain that the woman that made the decision to kick her out of this hospital doesn't work there anymore," Lambert said.

The couple claims it was discrimination.

"I've seen how common it is in the Black community, so I know that it happens often. I just never thought it would happen to me," Mercedes said.

They want a sit-down meeting with hospital administrators to talk about policy changes, so no other mother in labor is turned away.

"I was treated less than an animal," she said.

In a statement, the president and CEO of Franciscan Health Crown Point said the videos the Wells family shared are "deeply troubling," adding that they don't represent the health care system's values. An investigation into the incident at the hospital has since been launched.