President Biden Signs The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2024

This marks the first time in history that Congress has passed legislation to specifically address the stillbirth crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 12, 2024)- President Biden has signed the bipartisan Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2024 (H.R. 4581). This law amends Title V of the Social Security Act to add stillbirth and stillbirth prevention, something that has been left off since it was written nearly 100 years ago. The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act provides both clarity and a vital call to action to state health departments across the nation that they can and should use a portion of the existing $2.6 billion of Title V Block Grant funding to prevent stillbirth.

The Title V Block Grant is the single largest funding mechanism to address maternal and child health issues in the United States, with services reaching more than 93% of pregnant women in 2022. Currently, fewer than 20 state health departments are using a portion of these existing funds to address stillbirth, leaving expectant parents in most U.S. states and territories more vulnerable to stillbirth. This clarification will support stillbirth prevention activities, thereby helping to save the lives of mothers and babies.

Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) led The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act in the Senate, where it passed on unanimous consent June 11. The House approved this bill on May 15 in a vote of 408-3, where it was led by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) and Rep. Alma Adams (D-North Carolina). 

“The successful passage of The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act means the voices of thousands of grieving mothers, fathers, siblings and grandparents made a powerful difference for future families, and Congress and the President acted. This is a significant step in making stillbirth a maternal health tragedy of the past. Change is coming,” said Emily Price, the CEO of Healthy Birth Day, Inc., the nonprofit organization that championed the bill.

Stillbirth, which is defined as the loss of a pregnancy at 20 weeks or greater gestation, is a public health crisis in the U.S. that happens to more than 21,000 families every year. This means one in every 175 pregnancies in the U.S. ends in stillbirth. Racial disparities persist, and Black women are two times more likely to endure a stillbirth than their White counterparts. Recent reports and data suggest that further reduction in the incidence of stillbirth is possible, highlighting that at least 25% of stillbirths are potentially preventable. That reduction would translate into as many as 6,000 babies’ lives that could be saved every year when stillbirth prevention measures are in place. 

“This is a moonshot moment,” says Janet Petersen, co-founder of Healthy Birth Day, Inc. “Every expectant parent in the U.S. deserves their prenatal care to include evidence-based stillbirth prevention strategies like we have in Iowa. This bill will help make that possible.”

The annual number of stillbirths far exceeds the top five leading causes of deaths among children ages 0-14 years combined, including unintentional injuries, congenital anomalies, preterm birth, homicide, SIDS, and heart disease. Data from UNICEF comparing the United States to other countries shows that our nation can and must do more to prevent stillbirth. The 2023 report shows that in the last two decades, the U.S. stillbirth rate declined by a negligible 0.9% per year (2000-2021), putting our progress at 152nd out of 187 countries globally.

The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act is endorsed by 50 maternal health organizations, including March of Dimes, ACOG, AMCHP, AWHONN, and SMFM. Full text of the Stillbirth Prevention Act is available at Congress.gov. Visit bit.ly/StopStillbirth to learn more about stillbirth prevention legislation in the 118th Congress. 

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Healthy Birth Day, Inc. Celebrates Passage of The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2024 at White House Event

On Monday, July 8, 2024, stillbirth prevention advocates and members of the Healthy Birth Day, Inc. team were invited to participate in a panel discussion on the stillbirth crisis hosted by the Biden-Harris Administration at the White House complex. The event coincided with the passage of The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act. The panel discussion included Healthy Birth Day, Inc. CEO Emily Price, Count the Kicks Ambassador Tomkea Isaac and her husband Brandon, founders of Jace’s Journey, and Healthy Birth Day, Inc. Board Member Rose L. Horton.

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Healthy Birth Day, Inc. Founders Celebrate Progress

The five founders of Healthy Birth Day, Inc. also traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend the White House event in honor of their daughters. From left, Kate Safris, Jan Caruthers, Tiffan Yamen, Iowa Sen. Janet Petersen, and Kerry Biondi-Morlan stand outside the White House on Monday, July 8, 2024.

In the early 2000s these women came together after losing their daughters to stillbirth or infant death. They decided to channel their grief into stillbirth prevention efforts to keep other families from experiencing the tragedy of stillbirth. Their efforts created our nonprofit organization, Healthy Birth Day, Inc., and led to the launch of the Count the Kicks stillbirth prevention program in 2008. 

About Healthy Birth Day, Inc.

Healthy Birth Day, Inc. is the creator of the Count the Kicks stillbirth prevention program, which is credited with lowering the stillbirth rate in Iowa by more than 30% in the first 10 years (2008-2018). The free Count the Kicks app is a powerful stillbirth prevention tool to help expectant parents learn a simple method for fetal movement monitoring (kick counting). Healthy Birth Day, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of stillbirth through programming, advocacy, and research. They are the primary stakeholders of The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act (H.R. 4581) and a proud endorser of the SHINE for Autumn Act (H.R. 5012/S. 2657). Learn more at HealthyBirthDay.org and CountTheKicks.org. 

After her son James was born still, Kathleen turned to running to channel her grief into something positive

Kathleen McCoy is a Chicago-area stillbirth prevention advocate who is working in honor of her son James. Last year Kathleen and her husband Adam learned James’ heart had stopped beating when they went in for their scheduled C-section. After James was born still, Kathleen turned to running to channel some of her grief into something positive. She found that running helped, and decided to start training for her third marathon, which she completed in October in honor of James.   

She chose the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. because it holds a special place in her heart. Her beloved son James is named after her father James, a U.S. Marine Veteran who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, where the marathon ended.

Kathleen decided to raise funds for Healthy Birth Day, Inc. in conjunction with the marathon, and so far her fundraising efforts have contributed more than $14,000 to help us further our mission to save babies. 

Kathleen shares more about running the marathon in honor of James, and her hopes for the future of stillbirth prevention. 

What made you decide to run a marathon and ask friends and family to support you? 

Ever since James passed, I knew I wanted to do something where I felt like I was making a difference – where I could channel some of the anger and negativity into something positive. The marathon and fundraising gave me the space to do that! 

Fundraising helped me with my determination to complete the long runs and marathon, knowing I wasn’t just doing it for me but for a greater good. Fundraising for the marathon also allowed me to feel comfortable sharing my story on a deeper level, to raise awareness about the stillbirth crisis, to raise awareness about Count the Kicks, and to continue to have my son’s legacy live on. Ever since I sent out the fundraising email, multiple people have told me that they have told others about Healthy Birth Day, Inc. and Count the Kicks, which I am so grateful for!

Why did you choose to support Healthy Birth Day, Inc.? 

Healthy Birth Day, Inc. (HBD) has been instrumental in my healing. I have such gratitude for HBD. Being a part of the advocacy work has allowed me to have space to tell my son’s story – to have his legacy continue on. The advocacy trip to Washington, D.C., helped me personally feel like I was contributing to a greater good – and that something good could come from something so painful. 

After the advocacy trip, I knew HBD is who I wanted to fundraise for because HBD IS making a difference for people like me. HBD is talking about stillbirths. HBD is advocating for families like me. And the people at HBD care and want to support people like me.  

I find the passion that the team at HBD has inspiring and incredibly moving. I believe the work that HBD does saves lives and will prevent future families from experiencing the heartbreak my family has – that is so powerful to me personally!

How has running helped in your grief process? 

Being physically active has always been something important to my mental health, but after I lost James, running became that much more important – it was my escape. Running has been a safe space for me to process and reflect on everything in a safe space. 

Some days, especially in the beginning, when I was feeling a lot of negative thoughts, I would go for a run.  During the run, if I felt myself becoming fixated on negative thinking, I would take off and run faster! I would come home exhausted, but with a lighter mind and body.

Running has helped me to feel stronger both inside and out.  Running has helped to ground me. 

What do you hope happens with stillbirth prevention in this country? 

I hope that people continue to talk about stillbirths and continue to elevate this crisis so that fewer families experience what mine did. My hope is that providers start talking with patients more about fetal movement monitoring and incorporating more preventive measures into prenatal care so that less families experience this heartbreak. Also, I hope that by talking about stillbirths more, families who have experienced a stillbirth or who do in the future, can feel less alone. 

What is the total amount donated to Healthy Birth Day, Inc.? 

My friends and family donated a total of $7,000 and Microsoft (thanks to my sister) matched it dollar for dollar, bringing the total to $14,000.

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Kathleen and her husband Adam Wilson shared their story with WGN Chicago. Learn more about their advocacy efforts in honor of their son James.

Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2022 Introduced in Congress

Healthy Birth Day, Inc. Proud to be Primary Stakeholder of Stillbirth Prevention Legislation

Des Moines, Iowa- March 9, 2022: Today Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-North Carolina), Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) introduced the bipartisan Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2022 into Congress for consideration. The House and Senate companion legislation 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 back in 1935. Every year, 47,000 expectant parents will lose their baby to stillbirth, according to the CDC. 

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. The annual number of stillbirths far exceeds the number of deaths among children aged 0-14 years from preterm birth, SIDS, accidents, drownings, guns, fire, and flu combined. Racial disparities persist, with 1 out of every 96 Black pregnancies ending in stillbirth. 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 for the hundreds of thousands of expectant parents in this country who have lost a baby to stillbirth. It is a strong, bipartisan effort to acknowledge the silent crisis of stillbirth in this country and that we must do more to prevent preventable stillbirths through awareness and funding. We have solutions to save babies NOW. We are deeply grateful to Congresswomen Adams and Hinson and Senators Cassidy and Merkley for championing this issue,” said Emily Price, Executive Director of Healthy Birth Day, Inc.

Healthy Birth Day, Inc. encourages families and maternal health professionals who have been impacted by stillbirth to share their personal stories at StillbirthStories.com and on a variety of Stillbirth Stories social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The goal is to elevate the issue of stillbirth and to put a face to tragic birth outcomes that have long been ignored.

We encourage everyone who supports this legislation to learn more about the bill and reach out to your member of Congress to let them know you support it by visiting bit.ly/StillbirthPreventionAct.

The following organizations have endorsed the bill: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP), Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Every Mother Counts, Healthy Birth Day, Inc., The 2 Degrees Foundation, March of Dimes, Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, Measure the Placenta, Mom Congress, Moms Rising Together, PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy, Reproductive and Placental Research Unit-Yale School of Medicine, Return to Zero: HOPE, 1st Breath, 2020 Mom, and Star Legacy Foundation.

About Healthy Birth Day, Inc.

Healthy Birth Day, Inc. is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that created the Count the Kicks public health campaign. The organization and prevention campaign were founded by five Greater Des Moines women who all lost daughters to stillbirth or infant death in the early 2000s. The free Count the Kicks app is a powerful stillbirth prevention tool to help expectant parents be more in tune with their bodies and their babies. The free Count the Kicks app has been downloaded more than 180,000 times in all 50 states and more than 140 countries. In Iowa, where Count the Kicks began, the state’s stillbirth rate dropped by nearly 32% in the first 10 years of the campaign (2008-2018) and in the first five years the African American rate decreased nearly 39%; all while the rest of the country remained relatively stagnant. Learn more at CountTheKicks.org. We also invite you to learn more about our advocacy work at HealthyBirthDay.org.