Sisters in Birth Launches Capital Campaign to Build Birth Centers in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss., Nov. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sisters in Birth, a nonprofit/charitable women’s health organization, is responding to Mississippi’s maternity health crisis by launching a $10 million capital campaign to build a network of freestanding birth and wellness centers in Mississippi beginning in 2026.

Getty Israel, CEO, has worked tirelessly to break down state regulatory barriers to operating birth centers, which are currently nonexistent in the state. Israel recently obtained state approval to build the first 7,500 square-foot facility on 3.5 acres of land.

Certified nurse midwives will offer a comprehensive woman-centered healthcare model, providing a full range of primary health care services from adolescence years through menopause, including general health and gynecologic care, screenings, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, newborn care, and drug prescriptions, Clients will have direct access to nurse midwives by phone and telehealth. Nurse midwives will perform home visits after birth center discharge to evaluate mother and baby.

Perinatal community health workers will perform prenatal home visits, provide health education and coaching, natural childbirth education, doula support, home visitation and patient advocacy. Temporary housing will be provided to laboring patients traveling from the 53 maternity deserts — counties that have no obstetrical providers or facilities — within the state. The center will also train nurse midwifery students and perinatal community health workers to work within the centers.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns study found that the midwifery/birth center model care contributes to:

Lower rates of gestational diabetes, pregnancy-related hypertension, and preeclampsia

Higher rates of full-term birth

Lower rates of low-birth-weight babies

Lower rates of C-section deliveries

Higher rates of spontaneous vaginal births

Higher rates of vaginal births after C-section and repeat C-section deliveries

Higher rates of breastfeeding

Fewer infant emergency department visits and hospitalizations

Lower medical costs

Earlier this year, the Mississippi State Department of Health issued a public health emergency across the state in response to rising infant mortality rates, primarily due to Mississippi’s preterm birth and low birth weight rates, which are the highest in the U.S. annually.

Dr. Dan Edney, Mississippi’s state health officer, said that Mississippi women require “better access to prenatal and postpartum care,” but “increasing access to inadequate care will produce the same results,” said Israel. She continued, “Many women in Mississippi don’t receive comprehensive primary care or prenatal care and are obese when they become pregnant. Obstetricians often spend less than 15 minutes with their prenatal patients and fail to engage them about important modifiable risk factors, such as diet and exercise, which are associated with maternal disorders like gestational hypertension and diabetes. Providers also often leave patients out of the medical decision-making process when scheduling unnecessary and/or preventable labor inductions that often lead to fetal distress and subsequent cesarean deliveries, particularly among Black mothers, who experience the highest rates in Mississippi and the nation.”

After a decade of serving and advocating for women’s health in Mississippi, Sisters in Birth is forging a new path to increase access to the midwifery birth center model, a direct contrast to the physician/hospital model.

For more information, contact Linda Green, Development Director, sibirth0@gmail.com.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/10e884e1-13f4-42e6-a396-b88f02b0af26

Sisters in Birth's future birth and wellness center

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