According to Senator Bill Cassidy, Louisiana doesn't have a problem with infant mortality, though it has one of the worst rates in the nation. No, the real problem is that there are just so many Blacks in Louisiana, and that affects their overall rate. Black women’s lives don’t matter.

Source: Jezebel

Louisiana has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country: It ranks 47th out of the 48 states assessed, according to state officials. But U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, one of two white male Republican senators representing the state, says that’s only because Louisiana’s statistics include Black women.

“About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we’re not as much of an outlier as it’d otherwise appear,” Cassidy said in an interview with POLITICO. “Now, I say that not to minimize the issue but to focus the issue as to where it would be. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality.”

Naturally, Jezebel let Cassidy have it for the rest of the article on why what he said was just so jarring.

Firstly, yes, Black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts in Louisiana (three times more likely nationwide) because our medical system is deeply racist. And speaking of racism: I can’t really think of a more racist thing to say than “if you correct our population for race” in this context. He’s essentially saying that Black women’s lives don’t matter—as long the maternal mortality rate for white women in Louisiana isn’t that comparatively bad, everything is fine.

And space precludes more, suffice to say they took him to the woodshed for his remarks.