Sophie Hofeldt was scheduled to have her pregnancy checkups and give birth at the local hospital, 10 minutes from her home. Instead, she now has to drive more than three hours each way to get to the doctor's office. The hospital where she was treated, Winner Regional Health, has recently joined the growing number of rural health centers closing their maternity units. “Now it's going to be much more stressful and complicated for women to get the medical care they need because they have to travel much further,” said Hofeldt, who is due June 10 with her first child. Hofeldt added that longer trips mean more gas costs and a greater risk of not getting to the hospital in time. “My main concern is having to give birth in a car,” she says. More than 100 rural hospitals have stopped providing births since 2021 , according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a non-profit organization. The closure of obstetric services is often attributed to a lack of staff and funding.