Atlanta Birth Center | Capacity Building
As it stands today, Georgia has one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the country, at 46.2 maternal deaths/100,000 live births, as well as one of the nation’s highest disparities between Black and white birthing people, with Black birthing people experiencing maternal mortality at a rate of 66.6 deaths/100,000 live births. These poor perinatal health outcomes can often be exacerbated in areas where families are less likely to have access to midwifery care.
As one of the nation’s largest nationally accredited birth centers, the Atlanta Birth Center is the only birth center in Metro Atlanta—and one of only three in Georgia—existing to provide continuum of family-centered, equitable, and holistic care surrounding the childbearing experience.
Dedicated to helping create a new future where racial equity in birthing outcomes is achieved in Georgia, Atlanta Birth Center provides comprehensive midwifery care and serves approximately 500+ families annually, over 50% of whom are low-income Georgians receiving state-funded health care coverage.
The Birth Center model of care, featuring midwife-led care, is a proven strategy to decrease rates of preterm birth, low birthweight babies, cesarean births, and maternal health inequities by race and ethnicity among women with greater socioeconomic challenges. Rooted in an evidence-based approach, midwife-led care promotes normal physiologic pregnancy and labor and supports the natural ability to experience birth with minimum or no routine intervention.
Midwife-led care through Atlanta Birth Center equips mothers and their children in:
Reducing preterm births—In trials involving over 13,000 women, midwifery care reduced women’s risk for preterm birth by 24%. Midwife-led care allows for more accessible education and consistent touchpoints throughout the pregnancy journey.
Informed decision-making regarding birthing methods. Midwives at Atlanta Birth Center partner with their clients, providing individualized care that empowers mothers, resulting in fewer interventions like cesareans and episiotomies, leading to faster recovery and stronger postpartum bonding between new parents and their babies.
Breastfeeding support. Atlanta Birth Center’s midwives provide their clients the education and hands-on training they need to breastfeed successfully—for deliveries spanning birthing centers and the hospital.
Emotional support. The support of midwives and the personal relationship that develops reduces rates of postpartum depression and enhances mother-baby interaction.
With the support of the Liz Blake Giving Fund, the Atlanta Birth Center is launching a hospital-based, midwifery-led team to provide care for clients needing or desiring hospital birth by adding 4-5 full-time nurse-midwives to their staff. The existence of a strong community midwifery practice attending births inside and outside the hospital—in collaboration with Moorehouse School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital—is a unique and critical opportunity for impact. A 24/7 hospital-based midwifery service allows a more culturally matched, economic, and appropriate allocation of resources in regards to costs, healthcare workforce, and care settings.
This midwife-led model of care means that the midwife is the lead health-care professional, responsible for the planning, organization and delivery of healthcare. Having expanded options for this care in Atlanta will directly close gaps in care while improving outcomes.
When marginalized birthing people are centered, healthcare has the opportunity to be reshaped—and the experience of birth has the power to transform and heal individuals, families, and communities. By building capacity and strengthening the midwife-led center—a space dedicated to providing culturally congruent care, while also partnering with hospitals as part of an integrated system—the Liz Blake Giving Fund’s support is playing a tangible role in improving public health outcomes for mothers and their children across Metro Atlanta.