WORRYING

Yet Another Idaho Maternity Ward Closes

Valor Health will stop providing labor and delivery services beginning June 1.

Yet another hospital in Idaho has announced it will no longer provide labor and delivery services to expecting mothers, prompting further concerns about the condition of health care access in the state. Valor Health in Emmett, Idaho, which is estimated to deliver fewer than 50 babies a year, will stop providing these services beginning June 1. In a statement, Valor Health attributed the move to staffing shortages, inflation, and the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Some observers connected the move to the state’s abortion ban, however. “There’s no overstating how bad this is going to get,” Jessica Valenti—an author who writes on feminism and abortion access—tweeted in response to the news. “Half of the OBGYNs in the state are leaving or considering leaving - and no new OBGYNs want to move there because of the abortion ban,” Valenti wrote. Meanwhile, in Sandpoint, Bonner General Health made a similar announcement earlier this month, making the closest option for patients an hour away in Coeur d’Alene, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.