Stillbirth is a public health crisis, with over 21,000 babies born still every year in the United States ― the annual number of deaths far exceeds the top five leading causes of deaths among children ages 0-14 years combined, including unintentional injuries, congenital anomalies, preterm birth, homicide, SIDS, and heart disease. Racial disparities persist in stillbirth, with 1 out of every 101 Black pregnancies ending in stillbirth. Native Pacific Islander, Hispanic and Indigenous women are also at greater risk of losing their babies. And yet, even with numbers like these, stillbirth remains one of the most underfunded and understudied public health issues in the United States.

The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act will provide both clarity and a compelling call of action from Congress 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 Title V Block Grant is the single largest funding mechanism to support maternal and child health issues in the United States. In fact, in 2022 the grant impacted 93% of or nearly 3.5 million pregnant women in the United States, but to date, funding is not being properly leveraged to prevent stillbirth as only one-third of states are using any of their Title V Block Grant dollars on stillbirth prevention activities, leaving American families unnecessarily vulnerable to enduring the tragedy of stillbirth. 

Vital progress on the legislation has been made the past few weeks. On May 15, 2024 the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act (H.R. 4581/S. 2231) easily passed the U.S. House of Representatives on a vote of 408-3. Here is a link to see the final roll call vote. The bill was immediately sent back to the U.S. Senate for passage of the amended House bill and successfully passed the U.S. Senate via unanimous consent on June 11, 2024. 

Next stop is the President's Desk to be signed into law. To help ensure that President Biden signs the bill into law so thousands of lives can be saved from preventable stillbirth, please take action TODAY!