Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act of 2009

For those of you in the US...

This past week the Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act of 2009 was introduced to Congress in the both the House and the Senate.

For stillbirth the bill seeks to:
1. Expand current data collection activities to additional states to identify the causes of stillbirth and ways to prevent it in the future.
2. Create a public awareness and education campaign to educate women about the risk factors for still birth and the importance of prenatal care.
3. Expand support services, such as grief counseling, for families who have experienced a stillbirth loss.

Currently a repository to collect information about stillbirth does not exist. Therefore, there is no place to indicate the causes of stillbirth and educate medical professionals about the need for proper treatment.

If you would like to request your Representative or Senators support the bill, please visit the First Candle site for instructions- http://firstcandle.org/

Here is another link too with the specific instructions: http://firstcandle.org/illuminations/lautenberg-bill.html

Since FC joined the fight against SIDS, the incidence of SIDS has decreased 50%. My hope is that we would see an even greater decrease in the stillbirth rate - currently 25,000 per year in the US.

We forwarded the link to many of our friends and family who have written letters. Feel free to do the same!