Vonetta Ball-Green's face lights up when she talks about her daughter, Harmony."Harmony was a makeup artist; she was a teacher, a dancer, a gospel singer," Ball-Green said. "That was my baby girl. I miss her."During the early morning hours on July 5, 2021, Ball-Green lost her daughter and unborn grandchild. Harmony's husband, Byron Stribling, wasn't able to get her to the hospital in time during an emergency. The nearest hospital from where they were in Humphreys County is 30 minutes away in Yazoo City, and the only ambulance in the area was already responding to a call.Family members say Harmony and her unborn daughter Harper died four days before her due date and 3 miles from the hospital."From the time that it took her to get dressed, and the time it takes us — 20 minutes to anywhere, 28 minutes to the hospital — in between that time, you could have had some stability and oxygen," Ball-Green said. "Even if God called her, the baby still could have had a chance."A 2022 study from the Mississippi State Department of Health looked at travel times in rural areas. It found that pregnant women in several counties had to travel up to an hour or more to get to a hospital."It's a difference between life and death," said state Rep. Timaka James-Jones.Harmony was James-Jones’ niece."Absolutely preventable; truly preventable. There's no way that we should have areas that don’t have any opportunities for folks to get emergency care," she said.Harmony’s story is just one of thousands across Mississippi."This is America in 2025. We should not have these worries or concerns in Mississippi," James-Jones said.According to State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney, Mississippi ranks 44th in the country in maternal mortality."The health disparities that we see with maternal infant deaths are tragic, and they’re powerful, and they’re killing women and children," Edney said.Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than any other race. Edney said some of the factors are poverty, living in rural areas where there is limited access to health care, and even having underlying conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes that put women and their babies at risk. Edney said it starts with prenatal care."Women who have early prenatal care do better than women who don’t," Edney said. "Especially in the African-American population, we've got to facilitate women having access to prenatal care just as quickly as they know they're pregnant."This is also why there is a week in April nationwide that focuses on ways to keep Black mothers and their babies alive. The Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable is also in that fight."It's important because we are losing our moms, sisters; we're losing our aunts to this devastating crisis," said Cassandra Welchlin, executive director of the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable.The organization focuses on uplifting the voices of Black women in the community. Their biggest push right now is expanding Medicaid in Mississippi."We've been known as the maternal health desert in the country," Welchlin said. "Part of that has to do with many of our counties that don't have hospitals or have limited access, and so, Medicaid expansion would help fix that."The roundtable believes Medicaid expansion and improving prenatal care could save women’s lives.James-Jones said there is a desperate need for more health care options in the state. She said she will continue to push for those options, including expanding Medicare, as long as she is in the state legislature."We've had a proposal to fund our emergency care, and of course it dies in committee. There’s no conversation about it. When we see this story, my colleagues will have to hear, to know this is real," James-Jones said. "I'm not going to stop. I'm going to keep pressing every year."Ball-Green has been without her daughter Harmony for nearly four years. She never got to meet her granddaughter, Harper. But she's not giving up hope for other expectant mothers."I wasn't going to let Harmony's story stop because it's the introduction to many stories that have tragic endings due to not having necessities," Ball-Green said.