Mississippi once again has the country’s highest rate of fetal death, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. 

The report examined the nearly 21,000 deaths of fetuses in utero that occurred after 20 weeks’ gestation – also called stillbirths – in the United States in 2020. The overall national rate was 5.7 such deaths per 1,000 live births, about the same as it was the year before. 

But in Mississippi, the rate was nearly double that, at 10.6. That was an increase from 2019, when the state also led the country with a rate of 9.4.

Getty Israel, founder and executive director of Sisters in Birth, addresses a crowd gathered to celebrate its Jackson clinic opening on Briarwood Drive Tuesday, June 1, 2021. Sisters in Birth addresses health disparities among Mississippi mothers using preventative, holistic and patient-first maternal care.

The report didn’t include state-specific analysis of the causes of the stillbirths. Nationally, the most commonly reported cause was “unspecified.” Mississippi maternal health advocates say the state’s inadequate access to basic health care – exacerbated by one of the country’s highest rates of uninsurance and state leaders’ decision not to expand Medicaid – explain the data and other grim statistics.  

As state leaders passed abortion restrictions in recent years, they claimed they were making Mississippi “the safest state in the nation for an unborn child.” But Mississippi has long claimed the country’s highest infant mortality rate and a maternal mortality rate about twice the national figure. With abortion now banned in all but rare circumstances, the CDC report highlights yet another of the risks facing pregnant Mississippians. 

Stillbirth claims more babies than SIDS:We know the pain of stillbirth, and we’re working to lower nation’s numbers

Black mothers and babies in Mississippi are far likelier to die than their white counterparts, and likelier to experience adverse outcomes like premature birth and low birthweight.



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