premature birth

Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham and Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabaster will eliminate prenatal and maternal care service on October 25. Monroe County Hospital will follow suit and close its obstetrics department in November. OB care focuses on labor and delivery and pregnant patients.

A judge ruled that Alabama cannot shut down freestanding birth centers that meet certain standards, siding with midwives and doctors who challenged what they described as Alabama's de facto ban on the facilities.

State health officials say Alabama’s infant mortality rate is on the rise.The Alabama Department of Public health issued a news release yesterday saying…