SHINE for Autumn Act
The Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act of 2023
Please help us to bring stillbirth out of the shadows once and for all!
On July 27 th , 2023 the bipartisan and bicameral Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act (H.R.5012/S.2647) was introduced into the 118th Congress by Congresswoman Young Kim (CA-40), Congresswoman Kathy Castor (FL-14), Congressman David P. Joyce (OH-14), Congresswoman Robin Kelly (IL-02), along with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).
In honor of the tens of thousands of babies stillborn each year in the United States, we are asking you to urge your U.S. Senators and Representatives to support and cosponsor the bipartisan Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act.
Please take action by personalizing and completing the form on this website.Constituents like yourself have the power to influence your member’s priorities, which can be determined by the amount of engagement they receive around an issue. This means every call and message they receive gets logged by staff, which helps to raise the sense of urgency around an issue. Your legislators and their staff need to hear from you. Your voice is POWERFUL and can have a huge impact!
Stillbirth is a public health crisis that affects 1 in 170 pregnancies, with over 21,000 babies born still every year in the United States. Each one of those numbers represents a life lost, and a family that has been forever changed. Despite medical advances, the rate of stillbirth has hardly changed over the past 30 years.
To address stillbirth rates, we must have accurate and timely data to help understand the underlying causes of stillbirth and identify strategies for prevention. The bipartisan SHINE for Autumn Act, named after Autumn Joy, a New Jersey baby who was stillborn in 2011, aims to prevent stillbirth through enhanced data collection, research, education, and awareness. Building, for the first time, a true federal-state partnership to reduce the
incidence of stillbirth in the United States. No pregnancy is immune from stillbirth. Stillbirths occur in all races, ethnicities, income levels, and to women of all ages. The most recent CDC data show that 1 in every 173 pregnancies in the U.S. will end in stillbirth this year. For Black families it’s even worse: that statistic jumps to 1 in 97. Now, more than ever, we owe it to the families of this great nation to work harder to protect them.
Last Congress, the SHINE for Autumn Act (H.R.5487) passed the House, under suspension, with overwhelming majority support (408-18). We remain hopeful that we can carry the same momentum and enthusiasm for SHINE into the 118th Congress to ensure a swift passage of the bill this year.
There’s no time to waste. We have a responsibility to understand why stillbirths are happening and identify what can be done to combat this crisis. We must do better for our future moms and babies. And we can, with the comprehensive, noncontroversial SHINE for Autumn Act!
Thank you for taking action to combat this crisis in loving memory of Autumn and the tens of thousands of babies stillborn every year!!
To learn more about the SHINE for Autumn Act and how you can help to get SHINE passed and signed into this Congress, click HERE.