Dear Friend,
Listen, I know your time is valuable, so I am going to get right to the point. Congress is preparing to wind down for the year and they have yet to enact critical legislation that can help address the tragic loss of stillbirth that so many families face each year.
Tragically, 23,500 babies (65 a day) are stillborn every year in the United States - that is more deaths than prematurity, SIDS, car accidents, drowning, guns, fire, poison, and flu COMBINED. This is equivalent to losing nearly three classes of kindergarteners every day for an entire year. [1] Longstanding and persistent racial disparities mean that Black mothers experience stillbirths at double the rate of their white counterparts. [2]
And yet stillbirth remains one of the most underfunded and understudied public health issues today. But as dire as this picture looks, we can do something about it―right now.
Late last year the U.S House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act, named after Autumn Joy, who was stillborn on July 8, 2011. This legislation is the beginning of a longer-term solution towards the prevention of stillbirth in the United States. The bill will make critical steps to invest in research and data collection required to better understand and prevent stillbirth in the United States. [3]
The remaining legislative days in Congress are limited, but it is not too late to enact SHINE.
→Act now! Tell Congress to pass the SHINE for Autumn Act before they adjourn.
In an instant, the joy and anticipation moms and families feel as they prepare to welcome a new baby into their family can turn into crushing disappointment and relentless pain that losing that life through stillbirth can bring. No family should ever have to experience this loss.
We can and we must do better to support the health of mothers and babies and to prevent further tragedies to expectant families.
Together we are a powerful voice for families!
- Tina, Monifa, Kristin and the entire MomsRising/MamásConPoder Team
P.S. Have you or someone you loved experienced the tragic loss of a stillbirth? Please consider sharing your story. Your personal story, your experience matters and will help bring a deeper understanding to why the SHINE for Autumn Act is so critically important to families.
[1] Cause of Fetal Death: Data From the Fetal Death Report, 2014, CDC
[2] Stillbirth, Data and Statistics, CDC
[3] H.R.5487 - SHINE for Autumn Act of 2021
Register to vote! / ¡Regístrese para votar!
Join our Spanish language community, MamásConPoder.org
What should MomsRising tackle next? Tell us!
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.