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‘A moonshot moment’: Iowa group celebrates new law on stillbirth prevention
Bill by Iowa’s Hinson expands federal resources for prevention
Jul. 12, 2024 5:31 pm, Updated: Jul. 15, 2024 8:26 am
A bill brought forth by Eastern Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson to expand federal resources for stillbirth prevention has been signed into law.
The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2023 passed the U.S. House in May by a vote of 408-3. It unanimously passed the U.S. Senate in June.
The legislation was introduced by Hinson in July 2023, alongside North Carolina Democrat U.S. Rep. Alma Adams.
The new law clarifies that public health agencies can use existing federal grant dollars earmarked for mothers and children for stillbirth prevention and research, including initiatives that encourage expectant parents to be aware of and track their babies’ movements in the womb. Other prevention efforts include smoking cessation for pregnant women and reducing incidences of congenital syphilis.
Hinson, a Republican from Marion, said the clarification will enable the medical community to use federal resources to advance evidence-based stillbirth prevention efforts, saving the lives of mothers and babies.
“Today is a huge milestone in our fight to end stillbirth, the unexpected loss of a baby after more than 20 weeks of pregnancy,” Hinson said in a statement Friday.
She thanked the “incredible advocates, many of whom have endured the heartbreak of stillbirth,” along with Democratic President Joe Biden for signing the bipartisan legislation into law.
Every year, over 20,000 pregnancies in the United States end in a stillbirth. Nearly 1 in 4 stillbirths may be preventable, but the United States is trailing other countries in making progress.
In a report published by the World Health Organization comparing progress in improving stillbirth rates, the United States ranked 183 out of 195 countries.
The annual number of deaths far exceeds the top five leading causes of deaths among children ages up to 14 combined, including unintentional injuries, congenital anomalies, preterm birth, homicide, SIDS and heart disease, said Emily Price, an Iowa stillbirth prevention advocate and chief executive officer of Healthy Birth Day Inc.
The legislation is an outgrowth of Count the Kicks, a public health program founded in 2008 by five Iowa mothers who experienced stillbirth or infant death in the early 2000s. The program is based on Norwegian research that found a 30 percent reduction in stillbirth by teaching pregnant women how to monitor fetal movement during the third trimester by doing kick counts daily. The program helps parents get to know their expectant baby's normal movement patterns and speak up if they notice a change.
"This is a moonshot moment,” Janet Petersen, a Democratic state senator from Des Moines and a co-founder of the Iowa-based Healthy Birth Day, Inc., said in a statement.
“Every expectant parent in the U.S. deserves their prenatal care to include evidence-based stillbirth prevention strategies like we have in Iowa,” Petersen said. “This bill will help make that possible.”
Iowa's stillbirth rate decreased nearly 32 percent from 2008 to 2012, the first 10 years of the Count the Kicks prevention campaign.
Price said the law 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 law amends Title V of the Social Security Act to add stillbirth and stillbirth prevention, something that has been left off since its inception back in 1935.
“Title V is the single largest funding mechanism to address maternal and child health issues in the United States, with services reaching more than 93 percent of pregnant women in 2022,” Price said.
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, she said.
Price participated in a panel discussion Monday at the White House to increase awareness about efforts to address the stillbirth crisis.
“Stillbirth is one of the most underfunded, preventable public health crises — a crisis that is solvable,” she said. “There are proven ways to prevent stillbirth, like Count the Kicks. The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act will allow states to utilize already-existing funds for stillbirth prevention and education.”
Price said Count the Kicks “saved the life of my son 14 years ago.”
She informed her doctor during a routine 30-week checkup that she noticed a change in her baby’s movement and was worried. An exam discovered she was in active preterm labor at 30 weeks of pregnancy.
Price said she spent four days in the hospital under strict surveillance and received a daily pill to help stop or slow her contractions. She was placed on strict bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy, along with taking the pill.
“And it all worked,” she said. “My son was born completely healthy. I know when stillbirth prevention is in place it has the ability to save lives. And to see other families will benefit just like my family benefited is everything.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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