Newly Introduced Legislation will Support Education and Prevention Efforts for Stillbirth, SIDS and other Sudden, Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUID)
Healthy Birth Day is pleased to announce that the Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act of 2009 was filed July 14 by Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ. A companion bill was filed in the House by Frank Pallone, Jr., D-NJ-6. This bill would improve the collection of critical data to determine the causes of stillbirth, SIDS and SUID, increase education and awareness about how to prevent these tragedies in the future and expand support services for families who have experienced a stillbirth, SIDS or SUID loss.
Every year there are more than 25,000 stillbirths
and 4,600+ sudden, unexpected infant deaths in the United States!
As many of you know, in 2004 Iowa passed the Stillbirth Registry bill. Senator Harkin has long been a champion of Iowa’s stillbirth efforts and was instrumental in securing funding for the Iowa Stillbirth Registry program through the Centers for Disease Control. The Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act advances the work that was started in Iowa and is a giant step toward achieving our ultimate goal of creating a National Stillbirth Registry.
This legislation is very exciting news, but we need your help!
We need you to contact your U.S. Senators and Representative
and encourage them to support this legislation
and sign on as a co-sponsor.
The more co-sponsors the bill gets, the more likely it is to pass quickly through the House and Senate.
Participating in Healthy Birth Day’s letter-writing campaign is easy!
· Visit www.house.gov to get contact information for the Congressman in your District. You will need your 9-digit zip code. If you do not know your 4 digit extension, you can get it at http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp. You will then be able to link directly to your Representative’s website.
· Iowa’s U.S.Senators are: