Deaths from pregnancy complications have become more frequent in Mississippi, and racial disparities in the health of those who give birth have widened in recent years, according to a report released Thursday by the state Department of Health.
He Mississippi Maternal Mortality Report shows that the maternal mortality rate increased by 8.8% between 2013-2016 and 2017-2019, the latter being the most recent period analyzed by the researchers.
Non-Hispanic black women had a rate four times higher than non-Hispanic white women. Meanwhile, the rate rose 25% for black women while it fell 14% among white women. Of the maternal deaths directly related to pregnancy, 87.5% were determined to be preventable.
The grim numbers come as the state expects more births each year as a result of last summer’s US Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade of 1973, which had established national constitutional protection for abortion. The court used a Mississippi case to overturn the case, a legal effort state leaders have praised.
Mississippi’s Republican-controlled state legislature has been debating whether to extend Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a full year after delivery, a policy supported by State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney and a few others. leaders.
“It is imperative that we care for our most vulnerable populations now,” Edney said Thursday in a statement. «This is the only way we can get Mississippi’s health status off the bottom of the chart.»
Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann has also supported the expansion of postpartum coveragea position that puts him at odds with state House Speaker Philip Gunn, a fellow Republican.
“We won the pro-life case and now we don’t want to take care of our moms? I can’t understand how you can make that kind of argument,» Hosemann said at a news conference on January 18.
State senators voted for an extension last year, but it failed in the House amid opposition from Gunn. The speaker said this year that he would endorse him only if he has the support of the state Division of Medicaid.
To compile the report released Thursday, a committee of doctors and nurses reviewed 93 deaths, 40 of which were determined to be pregnancy-related. It found that 42.5% of the maternal deaths it identified occurred more than 60 days but less than a year after delivery.
Additionally, the committee found that 82.5% of women who died from pregnancy complications between 2017 and 2019 were Medicaid recipients.
According to the report, most of the deaths of non-Hispanic black mothers were attributed to cardiovascular conditions. Edney said that increased access to healthy food could reduce the prevalence of health problems that lead to cardiovascular disease.
Advocates from the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, an advocacy group, gathered on Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to expand postpartum coverage.
“Women of color in our state have some of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the country,” said Cassandra Welchlin, the group’s executive director. “We will not only change the policy, but we will also save precious lives.”
At a January 13 legislative hearing, Edney said the state does not have the medical workforce to address a wide range of poor health outcomes. Mississippi has the highest rates of stillbirth, infant mortality, and preterm birth in the country.
