Nurses belonging to the New York State Nurses Association rallied on Thursday against a decision by NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital to end midwifery services.

They’re calling on the hospital to reverse its decision, saying it would be a “massive blow” to an already vulnerable patient population.

One of those nurses rallying outside the hospital, at the tip of Northern Manhattan, Maureen McCarthy, has been a midwife for more than 30 years, including the past 16 years at New York Presbyterian Allen Hospital.

Though, her days as a midwife providing pregnancy, birthing and primary health care services could be numbered, unless New York Presbyterian reverses its decision to get rid of midwives at Allen Hospital, officially shutting the program down on March 3.

“We were informed December the 4th, the midwifery service here, inpatient midwives, that [the] service was being eliminated,” she said.

“The community has historically relied on midwives to provide compassionate and holistic care,” Ingrid Deler-Garcia, a midwife, said. "Particularly for the brown and Black individuals who may face reduced sensitivity and fear of now being heard or understood. We have been the lifeline of so many.”

They often serve lower-income communities and women who are more likely to suffer poor outcomes in maternal healthcare.

“Our community is primarily Washington Heights, Inwood and the South Bronx and north central Bronx,” McCarthy said. "These are women of color, primarily Black and Brown women.”

Data from the city shows Black women in the city are eight times more likely than white women to die from a pregnancy.

The World Health Organization said midwifery services reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.

“The Black and brown communities cannot survive without this. Nationally, New York state is probably one of the worse places where you have the infant mortality rate,” Assemblymember Al Taylor said. “Black and brown mothers are coming here and they’re leaving in a bag.”

In a statement, a spokesperson from New York Presbyterian tells NY1, “This is part of a broader commitment and investment that will enhance perinatal services and the overall patient experience at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, now and into the future.”

Aside from seeing the services they’ve provided at this hospital cut, the more than half a dozen midwives and nurse practitioners in the Allen Hospital program may also have to find new jobs.

“We might have to take alternative employment. I, myself, might have to go back to the bedside and do bedside nursing,” McCarthy said.

NewYork-Presbyterian also informed NY1 they are evolving their prenatal care model, and teams at Allen Hospital, focusing on increasing access to higher standards of care for the northern Manhattan community.