“Although 86 percent of pregnancy related deaths in the State are due to postpartum complications, Mississippi rejected federal funding to provide a year’s worth of Medicaid cover age to women after giving birth… Perhaps unsurprisingly, health outcomes in Mississippi are abysmal for both women and children. Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate in the country, and some of the highest rates for preterm birth, low birth weight, cesarean section, and maternal death. It is approximately 75 times more dangerous for a woman in the State to carry a pregnancy to term than to have an abortion… States with the most restrictive abortion policies also continue to invest the least in women’s and children’s health.”
Supreme Court Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan, dissenting in Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Mississippi case that reversed Roe vs Wade.
“The next phase of the pro-life movement is focusing on helping those moms that maybe have an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy ... [and] making sure that those babies, once born, have a productive life.”
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves after Dobbs was announced. No new funding towards this goal has since been proposed.
If you’ve ever traveled through Mississippi, you know it is a beautiful state with Gulf Coast beaches and a lovely slide down the greatest river in the United States. The people are friendly, but reminders of its prominence as a slave state and signs of its life as a bastion of the Confederacy linger. It segued brutally from enforced Jim Crow segregation into issues that powerfully rattled the incumbent White elite. When it became clear that school desegregation was to be the law of the land, an era of White flight began: like in Jackson (above, facing horrific flooding), the state capital and the most populous city in the state (about 160,000), which is today 80% Black, mostly living below the federal poverty line.
Mississippi is pretty much at the bottom of most measures of quality of life that apply to the rest of the nation. The notion of a state supporting its citizens in medical care, food security, safe drinking water, functioning infrastructure, transparent policing, voting rights and education, what polite local politicians label as “woke” “California values,” are also decried as “socialism” by most of its GOP elected officials. Apparently, dictionaries are also hard to find in Mississippi. As we shall also see, good old boy corruption still reigns supreme here.
Los Angeles Times editorialist, Michael Hiltzik, writes (September 7th): “[Mississippi’s] legislators and governors have made choices that have kept the state mired at the bottom of nationwide rankings in healthcare and economic opportunity… The state’s median household income of $44,966 in 2020 (according to the Federal Reserve) was the worst in the nation, 11% lower than the second-worst, Arkansas, and more than 33% lower than the U.S. average of $67,521.
“In terms of the quality of its healthcare system, Mississippi ranks at the very bottom nationally, in the estimation of the Commonwealth Fund. That’s especially true in the category of reproductive health. Mississippi’s rate of pregnancy-related mortality is the worst in the nation and almost twice the national average. The mortality rate for Black women there is three times the rate for white women. The state has recently ranked among the worst in per capita COVID cases, and its share of fully vaccinated residents, 53%, is the third-worst in the U.S.
“A blue-ribbon committee convened by the state Health Department to examine the state’s record recommended that it accept a federal offer to extend Medicaid eligibility to one year after delivery, up from 60 days, an extension accepted by 34 states. Earlier this year, the Mississippi Legislature refused… It should come as no surprise that Mississippi is one of the 12 states that have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.” A common GOP position.
Notwithstanding Mississippi House Democrat Bennie Thompson’s chairmanship of the January 6th Committee, make no mistake, this is Trump country. Like other mainstream Trump states, Mississippi has reveled in Trump’s rejection of anti-pollution, federal agency regulation, and his pushback on COVID mandates. They joyfully joined the red state conservative wave in undermining anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, narrowing voting rights, reducing access to healthcare for women and low-income and minority communities, while expanding access to guns.
But nothing provides an example of Mississippi’s lack of concern for living in a modern era –especially for the poorest in the state – like Jackson’s water system, which collapsed after recent massive rainstorms and flooding, and which “has suffered from decades of deferred maintenance and understaffing, resulting in consistent violations of federal water quality standards.
“In 2021, when a winter storm left 40,000 residents without drinking water for weeks, the city asked the state for $47 million for emergency repairs. The Legislature approved $3 million. The Legislature also refused to allow the city to impose a 1-cent sales tax to pay for water and sewerage improvements.
“With a full-scale repair of the water system expected to cost about $1 billion, Reeves said this week that he’s open to ‘privatization’ of the system. Often, privatizing public utilities means higher prices and poorer customer service. As it happens, Jackson has experience with the process, and it hasn’t been pretty…
“In 2013, the city entered into a $90-million contract with the multinational engineering firm Siemens for water system repairs and the installation of new, ostensibly more accurate, water meters… According to a 2019 lawsuit the city filed against Siemens, the company guaranteed that the contract would produce $120 million in revenue for the city, effectively paying for itself…
“The city alleged that Siemens had pulled a bait-and-switch, gulling the city into signing a contract lacking that hard-and-fast guarantee. The deal was a disaster, the city said. The water meters were faulty and couldn’t communicate with the data system that generated bills. Some residents received incorrect, sky-high bills; others received no bills for months, followed by bills for multiple months they couldn’t afford.
“‘The Siemens water system continues to be a disaster for the City of Jackson and its citizens,’ the lawsuit stated. ‘Siemens ultimately guaranteed nothing but financial ruin for the city.’ The city sought more than $450 million in damages, but said the ultimate losses over time might come to $700 million… In 2021, the city and Siemens reached a $90-million settlement — essentially the original price of the contract.” Hiltzik. Meanwhile, the city’s water system, trembling and on life support, remains essentially inoperable. Water for Black folks? Not the Mississippi way!
The Public Administration Review has also placed Mississippi atop the list of the nation’s most corrupt states. From the Biloxi casino scandals decades ago to recent payments [$1.1 million] to a football legend, corruption is a legacy that defines the state. Hiltzik tells us that “evidence is emerging that some $70 million in state welfare funds for poor families was diverted to recipients including Mississippi native and star NFL quarterback Brett Favre, allegedly for speeches he never delivered. (Favre denies the no-show allegations, has repaid at least some of the fees, and hasn’t been charged with a crime.)” There’s money there when they want money to be there…
But Mississippi is a “proud” example of deep evangelical and GOP values. Indeed, the numbers speak for themselves. As GOP proselytizers everywhere reject “wokeness,” I wonder if they realize that Jesus Christ just might have been the most “woke” individual in history. Or truly understand the legacy they are championing.
I’m Peter Dekom, and mega-dysfunctional Mississippi is fiercely proud of its commitment to its down-home conservative, GOP traditions, even if the last people to benefit from that commitment are its own citizens.
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