WHO 13 NEWS – Pregnancy care is drastically changing in Jasper County. Many moms-to-be in Newton will now to have to travel to give birth.

After October 15th, Newton Medical Center will no longer offer labor and delivery services. The decision comes after Newton Clinic announced at the end of August it would no longer recruit OBGYNs or other doctors trained for labor and delivery care.

It’s an announcement that left a lot of patients shocked and scrambling to find somewhere else to go.

“To just be told at 30 weeks pregnant with twins that I had to switch was hard,” Nicole Modlin, of Newton, said. “You build that relationship with your doctor and then being told ‘hey, you have to switch this far along’ and ‘she’s not delivering your babies’ anymore. And I had no idea where to go, what to do.”

Modlin now travels the 20 miles from Newton to Grinnell for her care. Downtown Des Moines would’ve been 35 miles.

She’ll be induced next week if the babies don’t come before then. For her, the choice of where to go came down to access, convenience, and the health of her babies.

“At first I did want to go to Des Moines just because twins are high risk, the chance of them coming earlier, we’re closer to Blank,” Modlin explained. “But then you add in the travel and more time off work… we’re closer to Grinnell rather than flying to Des Moines so that played a part too.”

A 2023 March of Dimes report says on average, women in Iowa travel about 11 miles to the nearest birthing hospital. A map in that same report shows about 33 percent of Iowa counties are defined as “maternity care deserts.”