Over the past few years, pregnant women in the Eugene-Springfield area have seen birthing options dwindle. Maternity health services, including midwifery units, have been shut down. A recent exodus of OB-GYN doctors from Oregon Medical Group has left some expecting moms feeling uncertain about their birth plans.
Renae Nims is in the first trimester of her second pregnancy. She said she had it all figured out-- planning to give birth in the same place she had her first child, Miles.
“I preferred McKenzie-Willamette because you had one labor delivery room, you stay in there the whole time,” Nims explained. “It's just easier and more comfortable for moms. And it's a smaller hospital and I enjoyed that.”
Dashed Birth Plan
Since six OB-GYNs have quit Oregon Medical Group, the practice is forced to close its obstetrics department. That means OMG is unable to renew its contract for obstetrics services with McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.
The for-profit Springfield hospital, which closed its McKenzie Midwives practice in 2023, does not employ its own OB-GYNs. Instead, it’s relied on Oregon Medical Group docs to support labor and delivery. That contract ends next month. Without doctors, McKenzie Women’s Health and Birth Unit can’t operate.
Nims–the expectant mother–got the news via an email on July 14, 2025, just before she learned she was pregnant again.
“(The email) says, ‘As of November 26th, 2025, we will no longer be providing OB-GYN services at Oregon Medical Group. We are partnering with Women's Care and McKenzie-Willamette Hospital to ensure that seamless care transitions for all our OB and OB-GYN patients receiving care at these facilities,’” said Nims.
Hospital birth options dwindle
Oregon Medical Group said three OB-GYNs moved away and the rest are joining Women’s Care. As the area’s largest practice, Women’s Care currently contracts with the only other hospital in the Eugene-Springfield area, PeaceHealth Sacred Health Medical Center at RiverBend.
“I just feel like you don't have a choice anymore,” said Nims. “I feel like—as big as Eugene-Springfield area is—we don't really have a choice. And I do feel hurt about that and I feel like it's not really fair.”
Nims said she hasn’t felt that “seamless transition” Oregon Medical Group assured in the email.
“I will have to be finding a different OB at Women's Care. So, it's kind of like starting all over now,” Nims said.
She also questioned whether Women’s Care, which offers a range of maternal and fetal care, as well as midwifery services, can handle the large influx of new patients.
“I already called Women's Care, and I'm not going to be seen for several months because they're backed up,” Nims said.
Making more maternity care spaces
Women’s Care announced it has leased a space in Eugene for new doctors and patients starting in November. PeaceHealth RiverBend, which closed its free-standing midwifery birthing center in 2019, continues to monitor trends but claims it’ has the staff and space to accommodate more births.
PeaceHealth spokesperson Jim Murez told KLCC the hospital estimates that next year, it will see an increase of two additional hospital deliveries each day, as a result of the shift of several OB-GYNs to Women's Care.
Meanwhile, McKenzie-Willamette says it's been trying to preserve its delivery services.
In a statement sent to KLCC on Sept. 30, spokesperson Jana Waterman said, “Dr. Ashley St. Germain, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist, will join McKenzie Medical Group part-time in November and go full-time in January.” Germain have medical staff privileges at the birth unit.
So soon, there will be one OB-GYN with staff privileges at McKenzie-Willamette’s birth unit. Last year, 619 babies were delivered there.
Expecting mother Renae Nims said besides the email from OMG two months ago, she’s received no further communications about her maternity care options.
“I didn't really know what was going to happen. It was all up in the air. There was no definitive plan,” Nims said. “I still don't know how it's going to go.”
McKenzie-Willamette will soon begin informing women about its new hire. Meanwhile, an untold number of pregnant women in the Eugene-Springfield area continue to face uncertainty about where and with whom they’ll deliver their babies.
