Bentonville Film Festival highlights sorrowful statistic

What's happening: Mussleman shared her experience — and her gratitude for having resources many women don't — at the opening event of the ninth annual Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) Tuesday.

• The first film shown to the invite-only group was "Giving Birth in America: Arkansas," a 20-minute documentary about the state's maternal mortality rate.

Why it matters: Arkansas' maternal mortality rate, the number of deaths per 100,000 people, was the worst in the U.S. in 2020.

• The movie highlights the struggles of pregnancy and postpartum of several women in rural Arkansas.
• The state had 40.4 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 20.4 nationwide, between 2018 and 2020, the most recent data available.

Threat level: Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, women in the U.S. were already more likely to die during or after pregnancy than anywhere else in the developed world.

• Public health experts predict things will worsen as health providers weigh legal exposure against clinical decisions.

What to watch: The BFF Foundation, which works to elevate female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized voices in entertainment and media, is hosting the film festival through Sunday.