Us & Them Encore: Diminishing OB Care In Rural America

Children are often described as the future. But in many rural communities across America, the path to bringing a child into the world is getting longer — sometimes literally. Across the country, families are traveling farther and farther from home to deliver babies. Since the end of 2020, 124 rural hospitals have closed or announced plans to close their labor-and-delivery units — about two closures a month. As small hospitals struggle with rising costs and staffing shortages, obstetrics departments are often among the first services to disappear. In this encore episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears from families living with those changes — and explores what the loss of maternity care could mean for the future of rural towns and communities.