City and state officials swung ceremonial sledge hammers last September to ring in the next stage of renovations for a birthing center at Mary & Elizabeth Hospital in Louisville's Hazelwood neighborhood.
Hospital officials promised South End mothers “exceptional maternity care close to home.”
Now, it appears the project may never happen.
U of L Health confirmed to LPM News Tuesday that The Birthing Place project is delayed indefinitely and will not open later this year as expected, citing the recent cuts to Medicaid championed by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans. The Birthing Place would have allowed expectant mothers to give birth west of Interstate 65 for the first time in more than 50 years.
In a statement to LPM News, U of L Health public relations director David McArthur said the decision was “disappointing, but necessary.”
“The recent cuts to Medicaid have changed the landscape for health care services in Kentucky,” McArthur said. “While the most severe cuts do not go into effect until 2028, we must start planning for that future now.”
Medicaid provides health care coverage to millions of low-income and disabled Americans and is the single largest payer of health care in Kentucky, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 44% of all births in the commonwealth are funded by Medicaid.
The budget bill Trump signed into law in July slashed funding for the program by 12%. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 4.8 million people will lose access to health care because of these cuts.
McArthur said U of L Health will continue to monitor the changes to Medicaid and will “look for opportunities to revisit the project.”
For now, he said U of L Health wants to open a women’s health center in expanded space where The Birthing Place was supposed to be. The nonprofit already has a small women’s health center on the Mary & Elizabeth campus providing access to midwives, gynecological services and gender-affirming care.
Redesigning nearly 21,000 square feet of former office space to make way for The Birthing Place was expected to cost U of L Health $20 million.
Former Louisville Metro Council Member Cindi Fowler pushed the city to chip in taxpayer dollars for the project, too. In 2022, Metro Council approved $8.25 million in matching grants for the birthing center.
Fowler said Tuesday that she is disappointed the project is being halted. She said expectant mothers will continue to be forced to drive downtown or out to the East End in order to get proper care.
“The women on one side of the city are no less important than women on the other side of the city and it’s just totally unfair,” she said.
Fowler, who lost a reelection bid in January, said Medicaid cuts are not the only challenges the project faced. She said Kentucky, like other states, is facing a shortage of OB/GYNs and midwives.
U of L Health has only received about $3 million of the $8.25 million in matching grants from the city, according to Fowler. She argued the remaining money should stay in the South End and be used for women’s health.
District 14 Metro Council Member Crystal Bast, who replaced Fowler on the council, said Tuesday that her office was notified of U of L Health’s decision last week.
“Of course, it’s disappointing,” Bast said. “We want to see innovative, quality-of-life initiatives land in this area, that was the intent behind the original funding. That said, we’ve had several wins in the South End in the past year, including targeted investment in economic development.”
Bast said she’s working with Mayor Craig Greenberg’s administration on finding an alternative use for the funding, something that would provide lasting benefits for South End residents.
A spokesperson for Greenberg did not respond to a request for comment.
