Sense of Community
The state of maternal health in Missouri
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Physicians and maternal health advocates reckon with Missouri's troubling maternal mortality rate
Physicians and maternal health advocates reckon with Missouri's troubling maternal mortality rate and what it reveals about the systems meant to protect its most vulnerable women.
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Sense of Community is a local public television program presented by OPT
Sense of Community
The state of maternal health in Missouri
Clip | 2m 30sVideo has Closed Captions
Physicians and maternal health advocates reckon with Missouri's troubling maternal mortality rate and what it reveals about the systems meant to protect its most vulnerable women.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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[tranquil music] We're currently the seventh highest in maternal mortality based on the 2025 data.
So compared to the nation, we're not doing super great.
We have about 32 deaths per 100,000 women compared to the national average of 22 deaths per 100,000 women.
Almost half of our counties are what we consider maternity care deserts, which just means that people have less access to doctor's appointments and resources and support.
So we're not doing great in Missouri.
We have some rural areas that do not have obstetrics providers.
We know that Black women are two and a half to three times more likely to die during the time of pregnancy or the first year after pregnancy, the postpartum period, as white women.
Those moms that have more risk factors, such as a cardiovascular condition or diabetes or other chronic condition, women who are obese, as well as women who have some of those more socioeconomic risk factors that contribute to their overall health before they get pregnant but then can create risk scenarios and high risk for them during pregnancy are more likely to die.
60% of the mortality issues are related to substance use disorders, mental health disorders, depression, suicide, all of those kind of things.
Southwest Missouri is known for one of the highest rates of child abuse, neglect, and domestic violence, but also a huge piece of that is extreme poverty and barriers to healthcare.
A lot of the social services, a lot of the funding currently right now is going down.
We've seen a loss of state funding for domestic violence programs.
So in general right now, everyone's having to tighten their belt and have to do more with less, and that obviously does not help women and children when that happens.
If you aren't doing a good job of taking care of moms and babies, you're probably not doing a really good job of taking care of your population at large.
So we definitely have a lot of room for improvement.
For a country that spends more than any other country on prenatal care and pregnancy and has some of the worst outcomes to show for it, we got to change something.
Preview | 20s | Missouri consistently ranks among the lowest-performing states in maternal healthcare. (20s)
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Clip | 2m 30s | OB/GYNs in Springfield and Columbia discuss the often hidden risks to maternal health in Missouri (2m 30s)
Now PlayingThe state of maternal health in Missouri
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Clip | 2m 30s | Physicians and maternal health advocates reckon with Missouri's troubling maternal mortality rate (2m 30s)
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Sense of Community is a local public television program presented by OPT