See, if they actually cared about babies they could fund pre-natal care, make sure the mother had access to good nutrition and medical care... but THAT would mean giving poor women something for free, making their lives a little easier, providing support... and republicans cannot abide that. They don't want 'their' money going to support desperate poor people- besides, they must be desperate and poor because they made poor life choices- so they deserve the hardships and suffering.

So, they ban abortion claiming that its about saving the unborn- but its really about punishing poor women that 'let' themselves get into such a situation. Once the baby is born the republicans will do all in their power to avoid paying one penny to feed, house, give medicine, or educate that child. The child can go to hell for all they care, and the child often does...

That tells you all you need to know about the creatures that make up the GOP here. They are, quite simply, evil- gleefully, and self-righteously evil.

79% of Louisiana is medically underserved. Concordia Parish has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the state.

KNOE’s Alyssa Azzara sat down with the Region 6 health director and a local pediatrician to talk about why these numbers are so high and what could be done to help bridge this great health divide.

Many mothers look forward to holding their newborn babies but some face a dark reality before their baby turns 1-year-old.

Concordia Parish has one of the highest rates at 14.5, more than double the national average. This means 14 out of 1,000 babies die before their first birthday.

Region 6 Health Director Dr. David Holcombe said there is a greater underlying issue that needs to be addressed.

“What it comes back to over and over and over again is poverty and lack of education, and inadequate job opportunities. So that’s the context that makes these cases seem to come up over and over again,” said Holcombe.

He said infant mortality is usually related to low birth weights, and low birth weights can be due to a number of things.

“They can be related to low maternal, low maternal age, poor prenatal care, or inadequate prenatal care. And high frequency between pregnancies, so inadequate spacing, and all of those things are, unfortunately, much more prevalent in the African American community than in the white community,” said Holcombe.