The Michigan Legislature allocated $1.2 million in the fiscal year 2025 budget for prenatal, birthing and postpartum services at Aspirus Ironwood Hospital in the western Upper Peninsula.

The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity made multiple attempts to get Aspirus to take the grant, but the health system didn't respond until Sept. 5 - when it rejected the money.

Spurning the money, Aspirus also announced Sept. 5 that it would close labor and delivery services at the Ironwood hospital at the end of 2025.

Aspirus Health spurned a $1.2 million grant from the Michigan Legislature to help its hospital in Ironwood pay for obstetric and gynecological care, instead opting to end labor and delivery services there and leaving pregnant women in the western Upper Peninsula fewer o

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