Hospital Birth Centers ≠ Freestanding Birth Centers
Let's talk about Birth Centers today! As of 2020, 37 US states have at least one Freestanding Birth Center. These are out-of-hospital spaces, run by midwives, where people can go to birth babies in a warm and inviting setting. These spaces commonly get confused with Hospital L&D floors, labeled as birth centers, but they're not the same!
Note: in a few rare cases, there are true birth centers attached to hospitals. They must be separate from the L&D floor, and meet certain standards for independence. This is not a commonly used model.
Characteristics of Freestanding Birth Centers:
Low risk pregnancies only (~85% of all pregnant people are considered low risk)
No medical induction
Some may offer non-medical inductions, such as membrane sweeping or drinking castor oil
No speeding labor up with Pitocin
No electronic fetal monitoring - they use intermittent monitoring with Dopplers