Officials propose ways to reduce infant mortality, yet Congress moving in opposite direction
Closure of rural hospitals due to lack of Medicaid expansion among care shortfalls
In her public stance, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith expresses concern about Mississippi’s shocking infant mortality rate, which is the highest in the nation—so much so that she recently introduced a Senate resolution proclaiming September National Infant Mortality Awareness Month.
The information packet provided to state legislators and others at last week’s State Public Health and Human Services Joint Committee Hearing on Infant Mortality in Mississippi included Hyde-Smith’s press release about her resolution, which proclaimed the need to “shine a spotlight on this issue and renew our commitment to saving more babies’ lives.”
Also included in the packet were statistics from the Mississippi Department of Health. According to hearing testimony in Jackson from State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney, in 2024 the state lost on average 9.7 babies under age 1 for every 1,000 live births, prompting a state health emergency declaration in August. The national average infant mortality rate during that same period was 5.5 deaths. Worse, still: Black babies in Mississippi were three times more likely to die at under a year old than white babies in 2024.
Dr. Randy Henderson, a Hattiesburg neonatologist and chair of the health department’s Child Death Review Panel, also testified at the hearing. Henderson spent part of this summer tediously reviewing death certificates for Mississippi infants who died in 2024 to determine, among other things, whether and how those deaths could have been prevented. He explained to legislators that most neonatal deaths — those that occur within the first 28 days of birth — are caused by deficits in perinatal care, including uncertainty regarding availability of healthcare and whether it is paid for by insurance or Medicaid; poverty; chronic disease; obstetrics doctor and nursing shortages; transportation difficulties; and a shortage of hospitals with labor and delivery units throughout the state. Henderson explained that the areas of the state with the longest drive times to OB/GYN care have the highest infant mortality rates: 11.3 in east central Mississippi and 10.0 in the Delta.
Legislators received copies of heat maps from the health department showing those areas of the state where residents are at least 45 minutes from the nearest OB/GYN. In the northern region of the state, counties with significant portions located more than 45 minutes from the nearest OB/GYN include Benton, Panola, Prentiss, Tishomingo, Itawamba, Chickasaw, Calhoun, Pontotoc, Yalobusha, Carroll, Montgomery, Choctaw, Webster, Winston and Noxubee. In the Delta, the counties include Tunica, Tallahatchie, Sunflower, Holmes, Humphreys, Sharkey, Isaquena and Yazoo. In the central region: Leake, Neshoba, Kemper, Scott, Newton, Claiborne, Copiah, Simpson, Smith, Jasper and Clarke. In the southern region: Jefferson, Franklin, Wilkinson, Lawrence, Jefferson Davis, Walthall, Marion, Covington, Wayne, Greene, Perry, Pearl River and Stone. That’s 47 out of Mississippi’s 82 counties with a significant part of the county more than 45 minutes from the nearest OB/GYN.
Edney also provided details about maternal mortality rates in Mississippi. From 2000 through 2024, the maternal mortality rate in Mississippi was 35.7 per 100,000 live births, compared with a national average of 23.1 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births during the same time period. If Mississippi’s maternal mortality rate were equal to the national average since 2020, 22 Mississippi mothers would still be with us. Even more startling, Mississippi’s maternal mortality rate has increased from 21.5 during the decade of the 2010s to 35.7 during the 2020s.
According to Edney, the health department is currently working to address maternal and infant mortality in Mississippi, including by creating an OB system of care, much like the state’s existing trauma and cardiac systems of care. The OB system of care will make it easier for first responders and other medical personnel to identify not just the nearest facility to care for an ailing infant or mother, but the nearest facility that is actually equipped to treat the particular condition affecting that infant or mother. The health department is also working to eliminate OB deserts and close the gaps in access to prenatal care; on leveraging community health workers in the state’s Healthy Mom Healthy Baby program; on distributing cribs and car seats; on educating the public through the Safe Sleep and Grandparents campaigns; and on replicating community engagement efforts for equitable Covid vaccine distribution to improve outcomes for mothers and infants.
Among Edney’s and Henderson’s recommendations for legislative action are public health funding for maternal/infant health issues; health policy that promotes the health of women of childbearing age, including promoting access to healthcare prior to pregnancy; incentivizing workforce development for maternal and infant health specialists in rural areas; and incentivizing women to improve their overall health, which will also improve the health of their babies.
Dr. Rashad Ali of Laurel testified about his experience as an OB/GYN focused on high risk pregnancies and reproductive complications and as CEO of Family Health Center. He identified several issues contributing to infant mortality and provided recommendations for addressing those issues. Among his concerns are gaps in access to healthcare, late or no prenatal care, and a lack of coordinated support for pregnant women. Ali’s proposed solutions were similar to those proposed by Edney and Henderson, including investing in maternal workforce pipelines like OB/GYN fellowship programs; funding care coordination programs at federally qualified health centers; supporting integrated, community-based prenatal care including behavioral health and case management; and using data to direct funding to the areas of greatest need.
For her part, Hyde-Smith seems to acknowledge some of the causes of infant mortality. The resolution she sponsored highlights the Newborn Supply Kit, a pilot program that provides basic supplies and educational materials to families of newborns who receive care at federally qualified health centers, like the Family Health Center in Laurel, and other hospitals and community based organizations. The kit is provided through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Baby2Baby, a nonprofit organization, and is available to families regardless of income or other qualifiers. The pilot currently operates in Mississippi and nine other states.
Hyde-Smith’s resolution also emphasizes disparities in perinatal care and the importance of prevention and wellness strategies aimed at reducing infant mortality. Her press release about the resolution highlights her co-sponsorship of the More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed Act (S. 1630), which was referred to and never left the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in 2024 and was resubmitted to that same committee in May 2025. Curiously, that bill recognizes the importance of prenatal and postnatal healthcare, as it would provide grant funding for entities in underserved areas to purchase telehealth equipment for such care, but it provides no funding either to clinics or hospitals for direct healthcare or insurance coverage for women of childbearing age. Instead, the bill would provide grant funding to organizations that counsel women against abortion.
Hyde-Smith’s press release also highlights the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s STORK program, which provides emergency obstetrics training to frontline medical providers throughout the state. The program is funded not by the federal government but by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
While Hyde-Smith publicly acknowledges the tragedy of infant mortality and seems to recognize some of the causes, her voting record and other public comments reflect antipathy toward many real solutions, either for the state’s infant mortality emergency or the related emergency of hundreds of thousands of Mississippians expected to lose healthcare coverage over the next few years.
Hyde-Smith’s vote in support of the Big Beautiful Bill will result in Mississippi women of childbearing age losing healthcare coverage, exacerbating an already startling infant mortality rate. Provisions in the bill specifically intended to erect administrative roadblocks and kick recipients off Medicaid to help offset $3 trillion in tax breaks for wealthy Americans will do just that, resulting in even fewer Mississippi women having healthcare coverage. According to Greenville obstetrician Dr. Lakeisha Richardson, lack of insurance is the primary reason many of her high-risk patients don’t receive care. Edney, Henderson and Ali all echoed that sentiment in their recent testimony: Lack of insurance coverage leads to a lack of care, which increases the risk of infant mortality.
This week, Hyde-Smith spoke at a breakfast hosted by the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership. During a speech that lasted almost half an hour, she made no mention of infant mortality, specifically, but did touch briefly on the Affordable Care Act, which she described as “anything but affordable.” She explained that she regularly hears from constituents complaining that the ACA “is killing us. It does nothing but go up, up, up.”
Hyde-Smith assured the crowd that extending ACA subsidies to make premiums more affordable — the issue at the heart of the government shutdown — was off the table. The reasons she gave were that it would cost $35 billion; Republicans never supported the subsidies in the first place; and the subsidies were never intended to be permanent. She did not deny that the subsidies would help her constituents who regularly complain about the cost of health insurance. Nor did she offer any alternative for helping her constituents pay for health insurance until such time as Republicans develop their “really good health care plan” that she insisted they “are going to focus on.” She also ignored the fact that the Big Beautiful Bill she voted for will likely cause healthcare costs to rise for all Mississippians and lead to the closure of eight rural Mississippi hospitals.
Hyde-Smith publicly claims to “know the struggles of families and what health insurance means to families” and that “we have to have affordable health insurance,” and that she cares about tackling Mississippi’s infant mortality crisis. But her voting record in support of Medicaid cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill and her public statements opposing ACA premium subsidies tell a different story.
Image: Cindy Hyde-Smith listens to Camille Wright of Brandon express her concerns as staffers Umesh Sanjanwala and Conner Dyess look on (Kathleen O’Beirne)