Murrieta hospital considers removing midwifery program, sparking protests
Dozens of people gathered on Tuesday to protest a possible change coming to Rancho Springs Hospital in Murrieta, where officials are considering ending their midwifery program.
"I have had both my babies out here at Rancho, and one was a C-section with an OB and the other was a midwife," said Jennifer Downs, one mother who was protesting outside of the hospital located near Hancock Avenue and Murrieta Hot Springs Road.
As she expects her third child, Downs said she's disappointed to hear that the hospital's 24/7 Certified Nurse-Midwives may no longer be employed full-time.
"The beauty of having a midwife in a hospital is if things don't go according to plan, there's something wrong with labor, you have the option to be in a hospital with the medical care that you would need," Downs said.
Hospital employees, who weren't able to comment on the matter publicly, said that the full-time midwives are currently contracted to work at the hospital through a third-party medical group called OBHG. Company officials told the midwives that their contract may not be extended past March 1, when it expires.
"It's very scary. We're losing options left and right, not only maternity care wards, perinatal health centers, but also providers," said TKTKTK.
This is the latest in a troubling trend in the Inland Empire, which has seen two different maternity wards closed down in recent months. Just days ago, the Corona Regional Medical Center closed its labor and delivery ward. In 2024, the Hemet Global Medical Center department was similarly closed. In both instances, the hospital officials cited a decrease in birth numbers and a shortage in physicians.
Along with the midwives who demonstrated on Tuesday were local doulas, who said that the hospital's program allows them to send women from underserved communities to receive care from midwives if they don't have an assigned obstetrician-gynecologist.
"At Rancho, they take care of and tend to the unassigned population, the folks that didn't have prenatal care throughout their pregnancy," said Yuli Smith, a licensed midwife.
While nothing has been made official, mothers like Downs say that they don't want to wait for a decision to come down to make sure their voices are heard. She says that she plans to deliver at Rancho Springs again in a few weeks and is hoping to use a midwife if she can.
"It's not that I prefer one versus the other, it's just to give moms options, because no pregnancy, no birth is the same," Downs said.
CBS LA has reached out to OB Hospitalist Group and both Rancho Springs Hospital and its parent company Southwest Health Care, but has not yet heard back.
