The warning is stark and striking about the closure of the only birthing center in Baker City — and the only one in the county.

It “may have a significant and potentially life-threatening impact on pregnant patients and families in this underserved region and will have the greatest impact on those low-income and marginalized patients who are already disproportionately vulnerable,” says a federal report, as we read in The Baker City Herald.

It’s not an abstract fear.

One mom, Alisha Alderson, broke down in tears thinking about all the things that could go wrong in her pregnancy. She had wanted to be able to give birth at the birthing center at Saint Alphonsus in Baker City.

“I was sitting in a hair salon a few days ago and some people started joking about me giving birth on the side of the road,” the 45-year-old said. “And in that moment, I just pictured all the things that could go wrong with my baby and broke down in tears in front of strangers.”

She and her family have now moved temporarily to her brother’s house in Boise, Idaho, to be close to a hospital, The Associated Press reported.

Hospitals in towns smaller than Baker City in Oregon do have birthing centers in their hospitals. Blue Mountain Hospital does in John Day. Wallowa Memorial Hospital in Enterprise does as well.

Could Baker City find a separate entity to operate a birth center within its hospital? Maybe. It would take money, a company interested in taking on the challenge and more. Any company would face similar challenges that the Baker City hospital faced, or any hospital faces — availability of staff.

What happened in Baker City is not unusual for rural hospitals across the country. Almost half of rural counties in the country have lost maternal care, forcing pregnant women to travel longer distances for care or face giving birth in an emergency room.

That doesn’t mean Oregon should do nothing about Baker City. We shouldn’t allow Oregon to become a place where pregnant rural women struggle to find care.

The closure of the maternity ward in Baker City is a problem Oregon politicians and health officials could fix, if they are committed to the health of rural Oregonians.