Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the U.S.

Do you live in a maternity care desert?

Maternity care deserts are counties with no obstetric clinicians or birthing facilities. Find your community on the map below to determine your level of access.

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Where you live should not determine whether you can access maternity care. Yet millions of families across the U.S. live in communities without enough obstetric clinicians, birthing facilities, or affordable options for care.

"Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the U.S." (2026 report) finds that 1 in 3 U.S. counties remains a maternity care desert. In total, 5.8 million women and 358,000 infants live in counties without full access to maternity care.

The report also documents an accelerating threat to local care: at least 96 hospital labor and delivery units closed across 35 states between 2024 and early 2026. In nearly 60% of affected counties, the closed unit was the community’s only birthing facility. These closures increased average travel time to maternity care by 25 minutes in affected communities.

Rural and under-resourced communities continue to face the greatest barriers. More than half of U.S. counties lack a hospital with labor and delivery services, and residents of maternity care deserts travel approximately three times longer to reach one than residents of full-access counties.

Living in Lowndes County, Alabama, meant a 45-minute drive to the nearest hospital for Latasha Bell. When she was sent home in early labor, she and her husband rented a nearby hotel room rather than risk making the long trip again.

A mother kisses her young daughter on the cheek while holding her outside. The child looks toward the camera, wearing a yellow outfit with a matching hair bow.

Madison received prenatal care close to home in Centreville, Alabama, but when it was time to deliver, she had to travel more than an hour to reach a higher-level hospital.

Pregnant woman in a gray t-shirt holding her belly, standing against a brick wall background.

Dr. Bishop provides prenatal care and delivers babies in rural Alabama, where many patients face long travel distances, transportation challenges, and financial barriers to accessing care.

Middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a denim shirt and white cardigan, smiling calmly with arms crossed.

After Bibb County, Alabama’s only labor and delivery unit sat closed for more than a decade, Dr. Waits helped build the physician pipeline and community partnerships that reopened it in 2015.

Smiling middle-aged man wearing glasses and a Cahaba Medical Care jacket sitting in front of a bookshelf filled with books.

Shortly after moving to Alabama, Savannah learned she was pregnant — then spent five months navigating Medicaid’s enrollment process before she could establish prenatal care.

Young woman with long black hair wearing an off-shoulder black dress stands outdoors with trees and cloudy sky in the background.

Alabama has one of the nation’s highest maternal mortality rates, an issue U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., has made a focus of her work in Washington.

Woman in a blue dress wearing a cross necklace, smiling in front of a wooden bookshelf filled with books and decor.

National support for this report is provided by Ob Hospitalist Group (OBHG).
As the nation's largest employer of OB-GYNs, OBHG partners with hospitals and community clinicians to expand access to maternal healthcare, building a new standard of care that is connected, equitable, and always within reach. Their sponsorship reflects a shared commitment to improving outcomes for moms and babies nationwide.