Maternal and child health problems in Mississippi

Many challenges continue to weigh on Mississippi mothers and children, especially after the landmark decision Revised Roe v. Wade And he allowed Mississippi Abortion Act Prohibition of abortion in almost all cases, to get to work.

With Rowe’s reversal, advocates and activists have put more pressure on state leaders to help fix issues such as postpartum Medicaid expansion, universal health care access, infant mortality and other issues.

On September 27, the Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families, a committee created by Lt. Gen. Delbert Hosemann, held the first of a series of hearings to ascertain the scope of these issues.

As reported by Senior Political Correspondent Geoff Pender, “46% of Mississippi’s children are in single-parent homes. One in five children experienced hunger in the past year. In Mississippi, nine out of every 1,000 babies die. In rural Delta, there are 4,000 babies for every pediatrician — statewide, that number drops to just 2,000 — and many counties don’t have an OB/GYN. Many mothers do not receive proper prenatal or postnatal care. Premature and low-birth-weight babies are at the highest risk in Mississippi.

Read more: ‘We’re 50th in a mile.’ Experts tell lawmakers where Mississippi stands on maternal, child health.

Organizations representing black women have criticized the Senate committee for its lack of members, with black women making up only one out of nine members.

“Black women and infants experience a disproportionate share of the nation’s high rates of stillbirth, low birth weight, and infant mortality,” Pender wrote.

“All we’re asking for here is the right to life,” said Angela Grayson, executive editor of the Black Women’s Voice Coalition and the Lighthouse’s advocacy and outreach coordinator. “The data shows that the data is here [extending postpartum Medicaid coverage] It’s good legislation and that’s what we need here in Mississippi so that black women can go through the labor process and not have the unnecessary burdens of inadequate health care.

Community health reporter Isabelle Taft reports that data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate Mississippi continues to be the deadliest state for children.

Overall, 5.42 of every 1,000 lives in the United States die before their first birthday. In Mississippi, those figures only continue to rise — 5.7 among white infants, 8.12 statewide and 11.8 among black infants.

And among the leading causes of infant death, while birth defects lead the nation, Mississippi’s babies are most likely to be born prematurely — the highest rate in the nation, pregnancy and birth complications, and sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

Read more: Mississippi is the deadliest state for babies, according to CDC data