Around 100 people protested at plans to downgrade the unit

The demonstation, of around 100 people, was timed to coincide with the launch of the consultation exercise on the unit at the privately-financed Neath Port Talbot Hospital at Baglan, south Wales.

The Local Health Board said its options are to remove the doctors and leave it as a midwife-led unit or close it down completely.

Campaigners claim this would mean many mothers would have to travel to Swansea or Bridgend to give birth.

The �64m hospital, which opened last November, has had to temporarily close its maternity unit a few times because of the shortage.

Pressures

Expectant mothers in the area would be sent to Singleton Hospital in Swansea or the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend as an alternative.

A report before the health board has said there had been "major operational difficulties in sustaining local obstetrics".

It cited changes in junior doctors' hours and the impact of the European Working Time Directive meant pressures on staffing were likely to get worse.

An urgent review of maternity services was needed, the report concluded.

But one protester, Alison Lewis, who is expecting a baby herself, is furious at the proposals.

"A downgrade will mean that many mothers will have to travel to Swansea or Bridgend to deliver," she said.

"The hospital has only been open 10 months and they are already trying to close down parts of it."