This piece discusses maternal and infant loss, postpartum health complications, and the obstacles families face when care isn’t accessible. These topics are deeply personal and can be painful to read, especially for those who have experienced birth-related trauma or loss.

I lost my son, Ethan, in 2023. When the Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) office invited the Broadband Team at Communities Unlimited (CU) to explore how something as simple as a strong internet connection could prevent tragedies like his, I knew I wanted to lead the project. I want to shine a light on a crisis that many people misunderstand, but I also know how difficult this subject can be. Please take care of yourself as you read, and step away if you need to.

When conversations turn to health in the United States, it’s common to hear grim headlines about prenatal and postnatal care. You may hear the alarming claim that the U.S. is one of the most dangerous high-income countries in which to have a baby. Yet many people never stop to ask what that actually means. It means the United States has the highest infant mortality rate among wealthy nations, according to the American Journal of Managed Care.

It means our maternal mortality rate is 55% higher than the country with the second-highest rate, the Commonwealth Fund and U.S. News & World Report released. Those numbers reflect national averages; the realities in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas are far more severe. In Mississippi alone, a child is nearly three times more likely to die before age five than a child born in Massachusetts. And although maternal and infant mortality affect families of every race, Black mothers and their infants bear a disproportionate share of the risk.

There are many reasons behind these outcomes: higher rates of chronic illness, limited access to health education, and socioeconomic disparities. But one of the most powerful and consistent drivers is the lack of access to specialists — especially OB-GYNs (Obstetrics and Gynecology), who manage reproductive and prenatal care, and Maternal Fetal Medicine providers, who treat high-risk pregnancies — in rural communities.

These barriers belong to a larger system known as the social determinants of health: the everyday conditions that influence whether someone can be well. They include income, transportation, geography, food access, job conditions, safety, and the ability to receive medical care. They are the forces outside the doctor’s office that determine what happens inside it.

This is where broadband enters the conversation. High-speed internet is no longer a luxury or a convenience. It shapes nearly every social determinant of health, which is why experts now refer to it as a “super social determinant.” When families have reliable connectivity, they can reach telehealth appointments, mental health services, online medical resources, remote monitoring devices, transportation tools, literacy programs, and community support systems. When they don’t, those options simply don’t exist. During pregnancy and postpartum, the consequences of that digital divide can be devastating.

Dr. Teresa Baker, MD, FACOG, and Co-Director of the InfantRisk Center at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, spends her days working to fill the gaps created by “maternity deserts” — regions with little or no access to specialists. Even from a mid-sized city, she relies on broadband to consult with rural primary-care providers, translate complex medical information into action, and help ensure pregnant patients get appropriate care.

One of those rural providers is Dr. Mary Williams, DNP, FNP-BC, who serves patients at Urgent & Primary Care of Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Communities in the Mississippi Delta — places like Clarksdale in Coahoma County, Bolivar County, and neighboring Phillips County in Arkansas — are all Broadband Communities within the CU service region. With stronger connectivity, families there could monitor pregnancy complications from home, receive immediate guidance when something changes, and reduce emergencies that often stem from delays in care. The need does not end at delivery. Infants can decline rapidly, and a single hour can mean the difference between hope and heartbreak. Postpartum, mothers face one of the most dangerous periods of their lives, when mental-health intervention is often urgent and in-person providers may be nonexistent.

Sally Doty, Director of the BEAM office, understands that urgency in a way no policy briefing could teach. She lost her niece to a postpartum complication in 2020. Broadband, to her, is not a convenience — it is a path that can prevent families from suffering the same pain.

“Expanding broadband access isn’t just about gaming or social media videos — it’s about saving lives,” Doty said. “In Mississippi, where too many families still face heartbreaking losses from infant and maternal mortality, telehealth and connected care can be the difference between hope and tragedy. My niece lived in a large metropolitan area with connectivity, but many expectant moms do not. As we work to connect every unserved community, we carry their stories with us — because every mother and child deserves the opportunity to thrive.”

CU’s Broadband Team sits in the gap where infrastructure, education, and real-world needs intersect. We don’t sell internet service, and we don’t lay cable. We walk into rural communities that have been overlooked, listen to the barriers they face, and help them build sustainable solutions. That can mean guiding local leaders through the technical maze of broadband planning, helping them secure state or federal funding, or bringing providers to the table when the community has no leverage of its own. It can also mean working directly with residents so broadband adoption isn’t a top-down mandate, but a community-driven effort rooted in health, opportunity, and dignity.

In towns where doctors are far away, hospitals are closing, and young families are doing their best to survive, a reliable internet connection can be the difference between isolation and care. Broadband alone cannot solve every challenge tied to maternal-fetal health in the South, but it is a powerful start — and one of the most practical tools we have to give mothers and babies a fighting chance.