The MaineHealth board of trustees voted Thursday to close the labor and delivery unit at MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta, ending delivery services at the hospital after months of discussion and community pushback. In a statement, the health system said the unit will close on Dec. 18 and that its services will move to MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick.
The closure will be the 12th maternity unit in Maine to shut down since 2015, and it leaves Lincoln County, Waldo County, and Sagadahoc County without a hospital that delivers babies. After the unit closes, fewer than half of Maine’s 34 hospitals will offer a place to give birth.
Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, and all three candidates running for governor had called on the health system to delay the decision and preserve birthing care in the Damariscotta area.
In its statement, the board said it will not close any additional labor and delivery units in the next two years. It also urged state lawmakers and the next governor to set up a group of hospitals, doctors, and others to address the challenges facing such units in these areas.