We’ve created sample wording you can use in a written letter to decision makers. It’s also important to share your personal story about why stillbirth prevention matters to you. Feel free to use the template wording below, and then find contact information for your Representatives and Senators. Please include your return postal mailing address when corresponding with a Congressional office.
Dear {Insert Name},
I am writing to encourage you to support two important pieces of stillbirth prevention legislation. The bipartisan Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act 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. This is a glaring omission of stillbirth from the most important piece of maternal health legislation in our country. The bipartisan Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act aims to prevent stillbirth through enhanced data collection, research, education, and awareness. It would be the first comprehensive, federal-state partnership to reduce stillbirth rates in the United States.
According to the CDC, every year 21,000 families in the U.S. experience the tragedy of having a baby born still. 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, with 1 out of every 97 Black pregnancies ending in stillbirth. Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islanders and American Indian or Alaska Native pregnancies are also at greater risk of experiencing a stillbirth.
This issue is important to me because {insert your personal story here}.
These pieces of legislation recognize 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. The Stillbirth Prevention Act 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.
The following organizations have endorsed the bipartisan Stillbirth Prevention Act: 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, Inc., 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, Jace’s Journey, Birth Matters b/c Family Matters, 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, and ICP Care.
I would be so grateful for your support, and encourage you to sign on as a cosponsor for both pieces of legislation today.
With Gratitude,
{Insert Your Name Here}
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