User:JRtx/Childbirth connection

Childbirth Connection, formerly known as the Maternity Center Association, is a national nonprofit health advocacy organization whose purpose is improving access to high-quality prenatal, childbirth, and postpartum medical care.

Childbirth Connection was founded in 1918 (as the "Maternity Center Association") in New York City. That year, Frances Perkins became the group's executive secretary. The organization established neighborhood maternity centers in New York City to provide care and education to reduce maternal and infant death, and promoted this model nationwide through a handbook and institutes.

The Maternity Center Association created the first school of nurse-midwifery in the United States in 1931. In the 1970s and 80s, the group created centers for out-of-hospital, family-centric maternity care, creating the association now known as the American Association of Birth Centers.

The group transferred ownership of its main childbirth center to St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City in 1996. In recent years the group has moved away from providing direct services has instead expanded its policy research agenda and its public education and outreach programs.

In 2005, the group changed its name to Childbirth Connection, and adopted the tagline "helping women and health professionals make informed maternity care decisions."