Dar a Luz Birth & Health Center was originally founded and incorporated by Abigail Lanin Eaves, CNM and Alisa Henning, CNM in 2007 and was granted non-profit status in March 2008. By the time we opened on March 24, 2011, Abigail had brought on our third founder, Melanie Yanke, CNM. We caught our first baby on April 18th and welcomed 26 babies in 2011.

Over the years, as we continued to expand, we welcomed more nurses and midwives, educators and administrators. We became one of the longest-operating nationally-accredited and state-licensed birth centers in the country. Unfortunately, due to the rising costs of providing this kind of specialized care and the inability of health insurers to adequately reimburse for our services, we had to cease birth services on December 15, 2025. Over nearly 15 years, we celebrated 1,753 born at the center (or en route) and another 1,022 who birthed in the hospital due to a transfer of care. What an amazing thing we accomplished! Thank you to each and every woman, mother, father, parent, partner, and family who entrusted us during your pregnancies and births.

While we have stopped catching babies for now, we have made it our goal to not only continue providing the exceptional care that we already offered outside of birth services, but to also expand our care. Accessing quality, individualized women’s health care is hard to do in most communities due to long wait times and a shrinking number of providers. Our focus is to increase access to more people and across more types of health care that women need including primary care and mental health.

Our history is still being written and we are excited to journey on this new path. If history has taught us anything, it’s the reminder that when one door closes, there are several others waiting to open, and that change is not a choice, it’s a requirement. We didn’t open Dar a Luz to only be one thing. We opened Dar a Luz to be the best place for women to receive the care that they deserve through their lifespan.