Delivered after a troubled pregnancy, she faces possible kidney and liver failure. Keeping Jasmine and many of Mississippi's other sickest and tiniest babies alive is a challenge for doctors in the hospital's intensive care unit. In Mississippi, the problem finds its roots in poverty, race and a high rate of teen-age pregnancy. Half of the babies born in Mississippi are black. While poor mothers may not get enough prenatal and neonatal care, Dr. Christina Glick , an intensive care physician at the hospital, told CNN that even African-American infants born to affluent mothers suffer greater mortality rates than whites.
Doctors are unsure why.
As for teen pregnancies, Glick said the problem is both medical and psychological. The teen-agers just can't deal with pregnancies and complicated pregnancies and then sick babies as if they were more mature. They can't do it. But Stacy Harris, a new mom and a teen-ager, said she will try. No more going out, hanging with friends.