Bryn Mawr birth center to close after delivering 16,000 babies over its nearly 50 years of service

Lifecycle Wellness and Birth Center said that it will be closing next year after 47 years of delivering babies, offering childbirth education classes and providing prenatal, postnatal and gynecological care in Bryn Mawr.

The organization announced Thursday that it will begin winding down in January before shutting down in late March.

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Executive and clinical director Jessi Schwarz and president of the board of directors Lauren Harrington said in a statement that rising costs of services and staffing, a steady increase in malpractice insurance premiums and legal pressures on maternal health providers have made it unfeasible for the small nonprofit to continue.

"Birth centers are uniquely designed to serve healthy, low-risk pregnancies, yet shifts in public health and rising rates of medical complications have reduced the number of families eligible for this model of care," the statement said. "… Despite our best efforts to adapt our model through partnerships, operational efficiencies and advocacy, these pressures have grown too great to sustain."

The following services will be suspended throughout the next few months:

• Community programs will end in January.
• Childbirth education classes will end Jan. 10.
• Labor and childbirth services will end Feb. 15.
• Lactation services will end Feb. 28.
• Mental health services will end March 15.
• Prenatal, postnatal and gynecology care will end March 28, operating in a reduced capacity until then.

Clients who may be impacted by the closure can request medical records and transfer care providers by contacting the organization online.

Lifecycle, which specializes in maternal care and midwifery, became the first licensed birth center in Pennsylvania in 1978 and has been one of the oldest continually operating birth centers in the country, delivering over 16,000 babies between its headquarters in Bryn Mawr and satellite office in Philadelphia.

"The closure of Lifecycle is a devastating blow, both for patients and the exemplary midwives, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and staff who care for them," the Pennsylvania Women's Health Caucus said in.a statement. "This closure is indicative of a much larger crisis facing our country and Commonwealth: the state of our women's healthcare system is abysmal."