MercyOne Clinton to End Labor and Delivery Services In Another Blow to Iowa’s Growing Maternal Care Crisis

DES MOINES, IA – Today, MercyOne Clinton announced it will end its labor and delivery services on May 26. Patients will now have to travel 40 to 60 miles to units in Dubuque, Davenport, or Silvis, Illinois, adding roughly an hour of travel — and in some cases forcing patients to cross state lines — to give birth.

In a press release, MercyOne cited changes to Medicaid and Medicare funding as the reason it can no longer sustain labor and delivery services in the community – a direct result of Iowa’s federal representatives voting for a budget bill that threatens health care for 106,700 Iowans and threatens funding for rural hospitals.

This closure is the latest blow to rural health care in Iowa, deepening an already critical maternal health care desert — meaning counties without labor and delivery services or local prenatal care providers. Iowa currently ranks dead last for OB-GYN’s per capita, and fifty-seven percent of Iowa counties do not have an obstetric facility, even though 22 percent of babies are born to women in rural counties. The state’s extreme 6-week abortion ban, signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds, has made it even harder to retain and recruit providers, worsening the OB-GYN shortage and leaving families with fewer options for care.

“Iowans have a lot of hometown pride, but thanks to partisan politicians at the state and federal level, in places like Ottumwa and Clinton they’re being forced out of their communities — sometimes even out of state — to have babies and get the care they need,” said candidate for governor Rob Sand. “If we want to keep Iowans in Iowa, that starts with getting back to the issues that matter most. The ability to stay in your community to get care is pretty basic, yet our leaders are too busy stoking culture wars and figuring out how to further rig the system to hold onto power to care. Time for change.”

This isn’t an isolated case. In 2024, MercyOne Newton had to close their birthing unit. Now, that same hospital is on a national list of hospitals under threat of closing altogether because of the federal budget bill passed earlier this year – which every single one of Iowa’s federal representatives voted for.

Iowa’s recent health care rankings continue to decline: 

• Iowa ranks last in the nation for OB-GYNs per capita.
• Iowa ranks 44th in the nation for physicians per capita.
• Iowa is ranked number one for cancer growth in the nation.
• A recent report revealed that Iowa now ranks 48th in the nation for hospital safety.
• Iowa is the worst in the nation for psychiatric beds.