When Cassie Voll was first seen at
Newport Hospital’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center, she arrived on the heels of “a really bad experience I had in the first half of my pregnancy in another state,” she said.
But a friend had given her a glowing recommendation for the Newport birthing center, and Voll says she quickly understood why.
“I had an amazing birthing experience,” she said. “I felt well-supported, well-cared for. Just a complete 180 [degrees] of what my experience had been in the first half of my pregnancy.”
Voll has spoken with numerous parents who echoed this praise for the birthing center, but such reviews aren’t the norm in U.S. hospitals. With the country consistently receiving dismal grades for obstetric care, “most people have average or below-average views of giving birth,” Voll said.
So when Voll heard that the center could potentially close due to financial struggles facing Newport Hospital owner
Brown University Health, “my first emotion was surprised and shocked,” she recalled. “My second emotion was outrage.”
Voll joined forces with Brooke Cure, who also gave birth at Newport Hospital, to form Moms Over Margins, a community group created to fight for the birthing center’s future.
Local and state officials backed their efforts, and in July, Brown Health committed to funding the hospital through the 2026 fiscal year. In November, the health system also announced the formation of a community advisory panel tasked with evaluating and providing recommendations for the birthing center’s continued operations.
While Voll and Cure are encouraged by the support for keeping the birthing center open, they say that some have a misconception that the center’s funding extension through 2026 guarantees its long-term survival.
“This problem is far from over,” Cure said. “Obviously, we’d like to see the longevity of the birthing center, and not just for one year ... and continue to provide a safe environment for all who are starting a family in Newport.”
Xaykham “Xay” Khamsyvoravong, a Newport city councilor and former mayor, has also been a vocal proponent of the birthing center.
“Health care is one of the most important parts of keeping this a viable place to raise a family in,” he said. In addition to taking away a critical community resource, the center’s closure would also strain other vital services in the city, according to Khamsyvoravong.
“When we lose critical parts of our community, like this birthing center, there are ripple effects that impact local government,” he said.
Newport only has two on-duty city rescue vehicles, and without the local birthing center, one “could essentially be operating as a shuttle to a birthing center as far north as the city of Providence,” he said, with the city government footing the expenses.
The second-closest birthing center Newport residents currently have is located at
South County Hospital – a trip that could take at least 30 minutes, Voll notes. Combined with time getting into the hospital, patients with complications could wait well beyond the recommended window for receiving care.
“That puts an incredibly high burden on the community to be able to get alternative care off [Aquidneck Island],” Voll said. “It could be a real, insurmountable challenge to some people who live here.”
The loss of the birthing center in Newport could also intensify gaps in care for Black, Indigenous and people of color, Voll says – communities that already have statistically worse obstetric health outcomes.
Newport Hospital spokesperson Nicole Searles said in a statement that the hospital “is committed to acting responsibly, transparently and with the community’s best interests at heart,” and is “actively exploring a range of potential strategies to ensure the birthing center’s long-term future and to preserve access to high-quality obstetric care,” including the establishment of the community advisory panel.
In response to a PBN inquiry on Brown Health’s criteria for selecting the birthing center as a facility that could close due to budgetary issues, Searles said that “programs like the birthing center, which provide 24-hour access to critical services to respond to any obstetric or neonatal emergency, are inherently resource-intense.
“Sustaining such a high-quality program requires dedicated investment in recruiting and retaining specialized physicians and staff to ensure exceptional care,” she said.
Due to the same budget gap that has thrown the birthing center’s future into uncertainty, Brown Health will close its Brown Health Home Medical facility. The system will also reduce contract labor and make staffing reallocations at Rhode Island Hospital’s inpatient adult psychiatry unit; reduce construction plans at
Rhode Island Hospital; and determine the future for the Samuels Sinclair Dental Center and Gateway Health Care, the latter of which received an extension through fiscal 2026.
Khamsyvoravong said the city government is “at the ready to advocate alongside Brown to address [budget] shortfalls,” and highlighted the community advisory panel as a result of that.
But Cure and Voll say they are concerned about the panel’s transparency, noting that meetings aren’t open to the public and that most members work for Brown Health.
Searles described the panel as including “a broad range of participants representing the public interest, including patients, philanthropic and community organizations, employees and maternal health experts who will offer guidance and recommendations throughout the review process.”
The panel’s meetings are closed to the general public “in the interest of time and open discourse,” she said.
