Katie Chubb, a community organizer, stands in an empty lot in Augusta, Ga., where she's been trying to open a birth center for six years. She says lack of cooperation from local hospitals has been a primary obstacle. Kendrick Brinson/For NPR hide caption
Nurse midwife Danielle Kraessig seen meeting with Yakini Branch at the PCC South Family Health Center in Berwyn, Ill., in early 2013. While the federal law requires insurers to cover maternity services, birthing centers and midwifery services aren't always included. M. Spencer Green/AP hide caption