Pregnant women in the Bronx may soon be able to give birth at a birthing center in their home borough.

A group of maternal health advocates have been fighting to open one in the borough for years and now are closer than they’ve ever been.

Myla Flores and Bruce McIntyre have been on the front lines to get a birthing center in the Bronx. McIntyre lost his partner Amber in 2020 while she was delivering their baby boy. Since then, he and Flores have worked tirelessly to secure the necessary funding and licensing to open their birthing center.

Flores and McIntyre say New York state law makes it particularly challenging to open a birthing center run by midwives but now they are getting closer to securing a location.

“Well, I would say Amber was, of course, 100% preventable. And then I started noticing that was happening to a lot of other mothers as well,” said McIntyre.

They are still looking to secure funds but are planning to start building the center in 18 months.