JACKSON, MISS. — When Lauren Jones was pregnant with her first child, doctors overlooked a leak in her amniotic sac because her description of the symptoms didn’t strike them as cause for alarm.
The symptoms didn’t improve. So when Jones went back a second time, she took no chances — she lied and told them she was spotting. The doctors quickly determined she needed an emergency cesarean section.
Jones is no anomaly in her home state of Mississippi, where 38.5% of pregnancies result in C-sections. But she is also one of the lucky ones. Mississippi has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country, a rate made worse by the pandemic. Black women like Jones in the state died at a rate four times higher than white women. Mississippi also has the worst infant mortality rate, with more than eight babies dying for every 1,000 births.
