Leslie Wolf said part of the reason she moved from Portland to Damariscotta last year was knowing that the nearest hospital, MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital, was a seven-minute drive from home if she decided to have children.

But now the hospital’s birthing center could be closing, part of a long-term trend in Maine that has seen 11 maternity wards close since 2015. The hospital hosted a public forum about the possible closureTuesday night in Damariscotta and about 100 people turned out to ask that the birthing center remain open.

Wolf, 33, who is pregnant with her first child — a boy — said she’s worried about the birthing center winding down operations close to the time she would be giving birth. She’s set to deliver at Lincoln Hospital in late November, but the maternity ward could be shuttering if she delivers past her due date.

“Even if it’s still open, I wonder whether there’s going to be a full staff there,” said Wolf, a member of the Maine Delivers Action Coalition, a grassroots group opposed to the possible closure. “If complications arise, will people be there who can handle those complications?”

If she doesn’t give birth at Lincoln Hospital, she could go to MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport or MaineHealth Mid-Coast Hospital in Brunswick, both about a 50-minute drive, and even longer if she were delayed by weather.

“As travel distances increase, so do maternal and infant risks,” Wolf said. “It gives me pause about having a second child.”

Cindy Wade, Lincoln Hospital’s president, said workforce shortages in obstetrics and gynecology are hampering the hospital’s ability to continue offering labor and delivery services.

“We continue to struggle with recruitment of OB/GYN providers,” Wade said. “We need to have them in place to provide this service.”

Wade said OB/GYN doctors are demanding a better work-life balance than they did decades ago and want to be on call only once every six to eight days. Because their staff is so small, Wade said OB/GYN doctors at Lincoln Hospital need to be on call once every four days. That reality makes it hard to recruit the doctors they need, Wade said.

Another problem is low birth rates, with Lincoln Hospital currently delivering about 130 babies per year, Wade said.

While that’s up from about 100 to 110 births a few years ago, it’s still a low number, Wade said, another problem when recruiting nurses and doctors who specialize in obstetrics.

“That’s a birth about every three days,” Wade said. “Clinicians who work in OB/GYN, they want more volume of births. They want to be busier than that.”

Statewide births have declined from 12,678 in 2014 to 11,783 in 2025, according to state statistics. As births have declined, more hospitals have stopped offering labor and delivery, including Houlton Regional Hospital and MaineHealth Waldo Hospital in 2025. Northern Light Inland Hospital announced in early 2025 that it was closing its birthing center, and then shuttered the entire hospital in June 2025.

Wade said Lincoln Hospital is not considering ending other services or closing.

A committee is currently mulling whether to recommend closing the birthing center, with votes to go before the Lincoln Hospital board in June, a regional board in July and the entire MaineHealth board in August.

Wade said if the decision is made to close the birthing center, it would likely remain open until December. Prenatal and postnatal care will still be offered at Lincoln Hospital even if the birthing center shutters, she said.

Margaret Reynolds, founder of the Maine Delivers Action Coalition, said the hospital is a “critical pillar” of the community.

“We chose our house because there’s a hospital five minutes from our house, and this is a great place to raise a family,” said Reynolds, 37, the mother of two young boys.

She said if the birthing center closes, it will factor into her decision on whether to have more children. She had a difficult delivery with her oldest boy seven years ago when they lived in Louisiana.

A community without a birthing center makes it that much harder to attract families to aging communities, she said.

“It would be shortsighted to close,” Reynolds said. “Closure isn’t the only option.”

More than 100 people packed the Great Salt Bay Community School’s gymnasium Tuesday evening in Damariscotta for a public forum, where community members were provided an opportunity to provide feedback.

Dozens of people, including Reynolds and Wolf, lined up at a microphone in front of hospital officials to plead for the birthing center to remain open. Most said they were either born or gave birth at the hospital.

“This truly is our community hospital, supported by this community to serve this community,” said Jackie Belknap, later adding, “We do not need to throw out the baby with the bath water.”

Many mothers, some with their children by their side, recounted their experiences of giving birth at the Damariscotta hospital. Some said it could have been a different outcome had they needed to drive tens of miles farther to access the care they needed.

“Asking a woman to drive 40 minutes while she is in labor is not the way life should be,” Frances Mercanti-Anthony, of Damariscotta, said to applause.

Katie Burns, of Damariscotta, said she gave birth to her two children at the hospital, but fears for future mothers in the community should the birthing center close.

“I am so grateful to have had children when we did,” she said. “… Access to maternal healthcare should not have to rely on luck.”