PORTLAND -- Maine is doing better than most states when it comes to preterm births but gets only a "C" in a new report.

The March of Dimes released its first national Premature Birth Report Card today.

Geri Tamborelli, chairwoman of the Maine Chapter Program Services Committee, says not a single state received an "A" on the report card. The average was a "D."

Maine's preterm birth rate of 10.7 percent falls short of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2010 objective of 7.6 percent.

The latest available data show that the national preterm birth rate is 12.7 percent.