TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) -- A group representing part of a national women's rights movement, gathered outside the Stormont Vail Medical Center Monday for a Labor Day rally.

The rallies are being hosted in over 100 major cities for Improving Birth's "National Rally for Change on Labor Day." A spokesperson for National Rally for Change said ImprovingBirth.org has used social media to help organize a massive movement to bring awareness to the lack of evidence-based maternity care in the U.S.

"Despite the dire situation, this is not a protest," says Dawn Thompson, founder of ImprovingBirth. "It is a public awareness campaign to bring attention to the outdated practices that have been proven time and again to not be what is best for mothers and babies."

Ina May Gaskin, Midwife and Right Livelihood Award winner, says, "We need medical practice standards at both the federal and the state level that would address C-sections performed without medical justification and assure more mother-friendly births and fewer medical interventions during labor."

Improving Birth was founded with the vision of encouraging hospital administrators to review their birth-specific policies and procedures.