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The New Space for Women’s Health, a project of the Friends of the Birth Center, is building an independent women's health and birth center in midtown Manhattan in early 2010 to provide an alternative center for women to receive health care and give birth in a respectful, attentive and private environment.

History
The Friends of the Birth Center began with a group of midwives, nurses, families and other supporters that gathered in 2003 after the closing of the Elizabeth-Seton Childbearing Center in St. Vincent's Hospital. Skyrocketing malpractice insurance forced the center to close its doors with little warning to the staff and to the devastation of the community. Since its closure, Manhattan has been left without a birth center, a truly ironic tragedy since Manhattan was the home of first birth center in the United States, the Childbearing Center opened by the Maternity Center Association (now the Childbirth Connection) in 1975. The Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center opened in St. Vincent's after the Childbearing Center closed in 1996.

The New Space for Women's Health is now a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working diligently to restore the birth center tradition to New York City and help shape perceptions of maternity care.

Philosophy
The foundation of the New Space's philosophy, the Midwives Model of Care, is based on the premise that when fully informed, women should be trusted to make responsible choices about their health. According to the |"About us" section of their website:

All women and their newborn babies deserve the best, and we are designing a center specifically to meet the needs of women and their families. The New Space for Women’s Health will be a powerful catalyst for improving the quality of health care for all women in New York City. We are giving the choice back to women in a time when families are being restricted in their decisions in how they can have their children. We avoid the routine use of tests, procedures, drugs, and restrictions, and give evidence-based care solely in the interest of mothers and infants, not at the convenience of the provider.

"The American healthcare system is increasingly dependent upon medical interventions to address what is, most often, a normal and safe physiological process," says Rebecca Benghiat, executive director of the New Space for Women’s Health. "Women are demanding a change and corporations are looking for a more financially viable model. The New Space is both of those, safe and empowering and economically feasible."

Plan for the Birth Center
The New Space for Women's Health is set to open in early 2010, and is planning to provide care to over 20,000 women and families each year and to give this families a holistic model of services that includes:


 * pre-natal, birth, and post-partum care
 * childbirth education
 * breastfeeding support
 * gynecological services, and
 * social work and psychological care.

The New Space is also committed to ensuring a safe and healthy environment for the families and the world around them. They have partnered with an award-winning green-building architecture firm, Perkins and Will, to create a state of the art environmentally-friendly women's health center to meet the US Green Building Council's LEED-CI gold standard.

Current News
The Business of Being Born, the documentary by Ricki Lake on the current state of childbirth in America, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007 and was then formally released by Red Envelope Entertainment in 2008. The New Space for Women's Health hosted both release parties in New York City, and welcomed Ricki Lake to their Board of Directors in 2008.

The New Space for Women's Health is co-hosting the annual Miles for Midwives Race and New Space Picnic on October 5, 2008 in partnership with the American College for Nurse-Midwives.

Board of Directors

 * Alexandra Lally Peters, President
 * Maria Freytsis, Vice President
 * Kathryn O'Neal-Dunham, Secretary
 * Stacey J. Rees, Treasurer
 * Colleen Bak
 * Andrew Coon
 * Martine Jean-Baptiste
 * Ricki Lake
 * &Eacute;lan V. McAllister
 * Jessica E. Smith
 * Olga Statz
 * Corina Wolfer

Staff

 * Rebecca Hankin Benghiat, Executive Director
 * Lara Miller, Administrative Associate
 * Nicole Heidbreder, Special Events Coordinator

Professional Team

 * Cicero Consulting Associates
 * Fried and Kowigos Partners, LLP
 * Leibowitz Communications
 * Perkins + Will
 * Proskauer Rose LLP
 * Strategic Management Consulting