Tulare mom's want to have their babies elsewhere, Adventist set to close maternity unit

Tulare mothers want to have their babies elsewhere.

Adventist Health Tulare has announced it will close its Obstetrics Department on June 6 due to decreased births in the hospital. The department consists of 14 perinatal rooms and a nursery.

This action may affect approximately 23 employees.

In February, Adventist Health delivered just five babies at the Tulare hospital.

Uncertainty has been a problem at Tulare's main hospital, which was closed for a year before its management changed to Adventist Health in 2018. The hospital lost many providers, who are now delivering babies at nearby hospitals in Porterville and Visalia.

In contrast, Kaweah Health in Visalia has logged a steady rate of about 4,500 births yearly for the past few years.

An overall decline in the number of births in California and Tulare County is a factor. In 1992, the number of births in California was listed at 602,037 but fell to 420,393 in 2022. Adventist Health says, “The number of deliveries has substantially declined over the last two years.”

State Department of Finance figures show a decline in births by year, from 8,219 in 2010 in Tulare County to 6,831 in 2022—about a 15% drop.

Last year, the Public Policy Institute weighed in on the issue, noting California’s birth rate has reached near-record lows, contributing to a slowdown in the state’s population growth and portending decades of slow growth to come. California’s birth rate (births per 1,000 residents) is at its lowest level in over 100 years. The number of births has fallen from a peak of 613,000 in 1992 to 420,000 in 2021 (2022 is on track to be similar to 2021).

Moreover, California’s total fertility rate (the number of births a woman will have in her lifetime) is now the lowest since records have been kept. A rate of 2.1 children per woman is necessary to maintain a population at its current level (immigration and migration aside). California and the nation had fertility rates near population replacement levels in 2008, but every state falls below those levels today. California has fallen faster than most, dropping from 2.15 to 1.52—that’s from 17th highest to 43rd highest. California's decline is just behind Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho. The lightly populated upper plains states (the Dakotas and Nebraska) now have the highest fertility rates in the country.

Birth rates have declined across the country, although they may now climb back somewhat with the end of the pandemic.

Still, one report notes that Visalia is among the cities in the nation with the highest percentage of children, with almost 30% of the population below 18 years old - 41,708 of Visalia’s 141,384 residents.

Why birth rates drop?

What are some factors related to lower birth rates? Axios reports, "Birth rates tend to fall as income rises, meaning lower birth rates can reflect greater prosperity at both the national and individual levels.

Yet the opposite can also be true, as people who feel they can't afford children choose not to have them. Plus, lower birth rates can also be an indication of better access to contraception, family planning, and abortion.

They tend to be lower in societies with higher rates of women in the workforce—though that relationship is becoming increasingly complicated. It doesn't hold up as well in places with stronger parental leave laws, for example.

This article originally appeared on Salinas Californian: Adventist set to close maternity unit at Tulare Health Center