For pregnant Black women, mortality rate is higher in Mississippi than for white women

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Black people make up about 38% of Mississippi‘s population, but a new study shows that Black women were four times more likely to die of causes directly related to pregnancy than white women in the state in 2020. “It is imperative that this racial inequity is not only recognized, but that concerted efforts are made at the institutional, community, and state levels to reduce these disparate outcomes,” wrote Dr. Michelle Owens and Dr. Courtney Mitchell, leaders of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee that conducted the study. The Mississippi State Department of Health published the findings Wednesday. The committee said 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in Mississippi between 2016 and 2020 were considered preventable, and cardiovascular disease and hypertension remain top contributors to maternal mortality. Dr. Michelle Owens, a maternal fetal medicine subspecialist, speaks on Feb. 22, 2023, at the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Owens is one of the leaders of a committee that published a study Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, which showed that Black women were four times more likely to die of causes directly related to pregnancy than white women in the state in 2020. (Photo by Rogelio V. Solis, AP) Women need comprehensive primary...