WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dozens of registered nurses, doctors, and maternal care advocates protested on June 18, 2026, against the planned closure of a postpartum unit at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. The hospital announced it would close 11 postpartum beds in Unit 5F, citing declining birth rates and financial pressures in Washington, D.C.

The hospital is the largest in Washington, D.C. According to the hospital, the closure will result in the consolidation of its postpartum services, leaving 18 postpartum beds available at the facility. One in three children born in Washington, D.C. are born at the facility.

Kiersten Lally, a registered nurse with the D.C. Nurses Association, said, "Postpartum units are a space where patients spend a few days after giving birth to heal, recover and learn how to care for themselves and their baby." She said, "Closing these 11 postpartum beds will directly affect these new parents and their babies during an incredibly vulnerable time."

Lally said, "Shortening their stay or forcing them to choose a new hospital to deliver at will certainly create worse outcomes in an already vulnerable patient population." All obstetric programs in Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Washington, D.C. were closed between 2000 and 2018.

Before the opening of Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, MedStar and Howard University Hospital were the only delivery options for residents in the eastern half of the District. Dr. Aza Nedhari, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mamatoto Village, a nonprofit organization providing pregnancy and postpartum services, said, "Keep what you already have before you build anything new, before the next initiative, before the next research study — keep the beds that are already serving mothers open."