Health

Mercy Health to end deliveries at Warren hospital, moving births to Boardman

Warren, Ohio • October 31, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration

Mercy Health will stop delivering babies at St. Joseph Warren Hospital by early December and consolidate births at St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital, ending generations of deliveries in Trumbull County's seat — and the decision is now drawing a formal complaint from county commissioners.

Mercy Health announced the change on Wednesday, October 28. The Warren hospital's labor and delivery space will be converted into a 25-bed inpatient unit, while deliveries move to Boardman, where Mercy Health says mothers will have access to maternal-fetal medicine specialists and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit operated in partnership with Akron Children's Hospital. St. Elizabeth Boardman delivers about 3,400 babies a year, and Mercy Health is adding 20 maternity beds there to support about 1,000 more mothers annually.

The health system said the decision followed an evaluation of the region's long-term health care needs and ongoing obstetrician-gynecologist workforce challenges affecting hospitals nationwide. A Mercy Health spokesperson said Friday the decision "reflects the challenges of sustainably staffing two labor and delivery locations," and that the system had "carefully examined the clinical considerations, alternatives and necessary safeguards" in its plans. Mercy Health has framed the consolidation as an effort to enhance maternity care by directing deliveries to the better-equipped Boardman site.

Only deliveries will move. Mercy Health said prenatal and postpartum care will continue through patients' established providers, and that Warren labor and delivery staff will have opportunities to transition to roles at St. Elizabeth Boardman or elsewhere in the health system. The system also plans to expand family support services at its Tod Avenue location in Warren, adding Centering Pregnancy, Resource Mothers and Fatherhood Support programs.

The blowback was swift. On Friday, October 30, the Trumbull County Board of Commissioners — Denny Malloy, Rick Hernandez and Tony Bernard — filed a complaint with the Ohio Department of Medicaid against the closing. Closing the county's only OB/GYN service provider will create an obstetric desert, leaving many Medicaid recipients with no immediate access to care, the commissioners wrote. They called on Mercy Health to halt the closure and said they are reaching out to Medicaid, the state of Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine, state representatives and federal congressional leaders to "engage and assist."

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin also criticized the decision, calling St. Joseph "a pillar of safety and comfort" and "where thousands of Warren mothers have safely delivered their children." He warned that families will now have to travel nearly 30 miles to Boardman — a 30- to 40-minute drive down Route 11 and Interstate 680, "perhaps during a snowstorm, maybe expectant mothers in labor." The Ohio Nurses Association also criticized the move, saying it adds another Ohio community to the growing list losing access to essential maternity care.

The Warren closure is part of a wider wave of maternity service endings across the country. Becker's Hospital Review, which tracks the trend, reported 29 maternity care service closures throughout 2025, as hospitals cite persistent financial pressures, staffing shortages and falling birth rates.

Sources: The Business Journal Daily (Oct 29 and Oct 30, 2026); Becker's Hospital Review (Oct 29, 2026); Tribune Chronicle (Oct 28, 2026).