Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act

This platform was created to encourage your members of Congress to support the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act during the 118th Congress. The bipartisan bill would add stillbirth and stillbirth prevention to Title V of the Social Security Act — something that has been lacking since the introduction of Title V funding back in 1935. Healthy Birth Day, Inc. the nonprofit organization that created the Count the Kicks stillbirth prevention campaign, helped initiate the legislation after discovering the omission of stillbirth from the most important piece of maternal health legislation in our country. We are so grateful for the bill sponsors, Senators Merkley and Cassidy and Congresswomen Hinson and Adams who are passionate champions of this issue.

In the U.S. the annual number of stillbirths far exceeds the top five leading causes of deaths among children aged 0-14 years combined, including unintentional injuries, congenital anomalies, pre-term birth, homicide, SIDS, and heart disease. Racial disparities persist in stillbirth, with 1 out of every 97 Black pregnancies ending in stillbirth. Native Pacific Islander, Hispanic and Indigenous women are also at greater risk of losing their babies.

The legislation recognizes that stillbirth (defined as the loss of a baby at 20 weeks or greater during pregnancy), and the disparity in those impacted by stillbirth, requires further research, support, and prevention programming. It also calls for evidence-based programs and activities and outcome research to reduce the incidence of stillbirth including tracking and awareness of fetal movements, improvement of birth timing for pregnant people with risk factors, initiatives that encourage safe sleeping positions for pregnant people, screening and surveillance for fetal growth restriction, efforts to achieve smoking cessation amongst pregnant people, community-based programs that provide home visits or other types of support, and any other research or evidence-based programming to prevent stillbirths.

“This legislation is a call to action for health departments that haven't done so yet to implement stillbirth prevention programs in order to help end the stillbirth crisis and save lives. There are proven stillbirth prevention efforts that WORK - and the return on your investment will be measured in the safe arrival of thousands of babies and improved outcomes for America’s moms,” said Emily Price, CEO of Healthy Birth Day, Inc.

Thank you to the following organizations that endorsed the bill: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP), Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH), National Education Association (NEA), Healthy Birth Day, March of Dimes, 2 Degrees Foundation, PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy, Reproductive and Placental Research Unit Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences Yale University School of Medicine, 1st Breath, Amniotic Fluid Embolism (AFE) Foundation, Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), Every Mother Counts, M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death), Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, Measure the Placenta, Mom Congress, Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health (formerly 2020 Mom), Postpartum Support International, Return to Zero: H.O.P.E., RH Impact, Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI), Start Healing Together, SUDC Foundation, What to Expect Project, Aaliyah in Action, Mattie's Memory, March for Moms, Ninde Doula Program-Division of Indian Work, Healing Our Hearts Foundation, In the Arms of Jesus Remembrance Photography and Grief Support, Birth and Breastfeeding in Color Inc., Nurturing Babyhood N’ Beyond, LLC, Haven, Kansas Birth Justice Society, Mera's Mission, ICP Care.

Review the full text of the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act HERE.