(NBC News) – Losing a baby late in pregnancy is more common in the South than in other regions of the United States, according to a new report given exclusively to NBC News.

The difference is dramatic: Compared with other parts of the country, the odds of having a high rate of late-stage pregnancy loss are nearly three times greater in Southern states.

The lack of Medicaid expansion in the South, along with the region’s large rural population and relatively low levels of adequate prenatal care, contributes to the high rates of fetal loss in the second half of pregnancy, according to the report by United States of Care, a nonpartisan health care advocacy organization. (Read More)