Go to our blog posting and follow these steps to communicate with your members of Congress. Help future parents not suffer the horrible loss.

Here are the other organizations endorsing the bill:

American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC)
CJ Foundation SIDS
Cribs for Kids
First Candle
Healthy Birth Day
International Association of Coroners & Medical Examiners (IAC&ME)
Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA)
Keeping Babies Safe
Lehigh County Coroner (PA)
Maine Children’s Alliance
National Association of Neonatal Nurses
National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS)
National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME)
National Center for the Review & Prevention of Child Deaths
Safe Kids Worldwide
SIDS Mid-Atlantic
SIDS Resources
Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Sudden Unexplained Death In Childhood (SUDC) Program

Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office (TX)

Step 1: Find the contact information for your Congressman and U.S. Senators using this website – Contacting Your Congress.

Step 2: Use this sample letter to write your members of Congress.

Step 3: (Optional) If you want to be more proactive when communicating with your members of Congress. Follow these tips.

SAMPLE LETTER:

I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor the “Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education, and Awareness Act” (S1862/HR3418).

Every year, there are more than 25,000 stillbirths in the United States and there is no known cause for as many as half of all stillbirths leaving many parents without answers to the reasons for these deaths.

(INSERT YOUR PERSONAL STORY)

The Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education, and Awareness Act would:

• Expand current data collection activities to additional states to identify the causes of stillbirth and ways to prevent it in the future.
• Create a national public awareness and education campaign to educate women about the risk factors for stillbirth, educate women about the importance of prenatal care, and educate parents and caregivers about known SUID risk factors.
• Expand support services, such as grief counseling, for families who have experienced a stillbirth or SUID loss.
• Encourage states and local entities to complete scene investigations and autopsies to help determine causes of SUIDs.
• Expand child death review programs to review the circumstances surrounding infant and child deaths.
• Establish a national database to track SUID deaths and identify risk factors.

As your constituents, please co-sponsor this important legislation today and help us save the lives of future generations.

If you have questions or to sign on as a co-sponsor, please contact:

Kyle Brown with Senator Lautenberg: kyle_brown@lautenberg.senate.gov or 202-224-3224.
Rachelle Pierre-Mathieu with Rep. Pallone: rachelle.pierre-mathieu@mail.house.gov or at 202-225-4671

Your name

Address

Contact

Please call your Congressperson’s office and ask for the staff member who deals with Health issues. Tell the staff member that you want your Congressperson to co-sponsor H.R. 1037 – the Stillbirth Research and Awareness Act of 2011 and would like to send them an e-mail. Then get their e-mail address and send them an e-mail such as this:

Dear (staffmember),

My family would be honored if Rep. (Name) would co-sponsor H.R. 1037 – the Stillbirth Research and Awareness Act of 2011 by Rep. Peter King. We lost our son/daughter in the 40th week of pregnancy and it devastated our family. Every year, more than 25,000 children die of stillbirths and half of those are undiagnosed. The bill would help further stillbirth research to potentially help future parents not suffer the horrible loss that we had to endure. Please help all future parents by co-sponsoring H.R. 1037 and I look forward to your response.

(Your Name)

(Address)

(Phone number)

Please go to “How to communicate to your elected official” for the instructions when contacting your U.S. House of Representative. Also, please read each of the pages on this blog to familiarize yourself with the federal stillbirth legislative campaign. Find your U.S. House of Representative and U.S. Senator.

Please call your Congressperson’s office and ask for the staff member who deals with Health issues. Tell the staff member that you want your Congressperson to co-sponsor H.R. 1037 – the Stillbirth Research and Awareness Act of 2011 and would like to send them an e-mail. Then get their e-mail address and send them an e-mail such as this:

Dear (staffmember),

My family would be honored if Rep. (Name) would co-sponsor H.R. 1037 – the Stillbirth Research and Awareness Act of 2011 by Rep. Peter King. We lost our son/daughter in the 40th week of pregnancy and it devastated our family. Every year, more than 25,000 children die of stillbirths and half of those are undiagnosed. The bill would help further stillbirth research to potentially help future parents not suffer the horrible loss that we had to endure. Please help all future parents by co-sponsoring H.R. 1037 and I look forward to your response.

(Your Name)

(Address)

(Phone number)

Please go to “How to communicate to your elected official” for the instructions when contacting your U.S. House of Representative. Also, please read each of the pages on this blog to familiarize yourself with the federal stillbirth legislative campaign. Find your U.S. House of Representative and U.S. Senator.

A U.S. Senate and House bill addressing stillbirth deaths, sudden unexpected infant death and children’s health is the most powerful awareness our issues have seen. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. asks all MISS members help to generate as many Congressional Legislative Co-sponsors as possible. The more co-sponsors, the more chance of passage.

Please contact your U.S. Senators requesting co-sponsorship and passage of – S. 1445.

Please contact your U.S. House of Representative requesting co-sponsorship and passage of – H.R. 3212.

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

CALL  your 2 U.S. Senators D.C. offices, ask for the staff member who deals with Health issues. Ask the “Health Issues” staff member for the Senator’s co-sponsorship of S. 1445 to prevent SUID, SUDC and stillbirths. Tell your personal story. Tell them what the bill would do. Ask for the Senator’s co-sponsorship. Ask for their e-mail so they have it in writing then immediately e-mail them. Then follow up in two weeks.

CALL  your 1 U.S. House of Representative D.C. office, ask for the staff member who deals with Health issues. Ask the “Health Issues” staff member for the Senator’s co-sponsorship of H.R. 3212 to prevent SUID, SUDC and stillbirths. Tell your personal story. Tell them what the bill would do. Ask for the Senator’s co-sponsorship. Ask for their e-mail so they have it in writing then immediately e-mail them. Follow up in two weeks.

To find out who your U.S. House of Representative, U.S. Senator and tips on how to communicate with your Congressperson click here.

HERE’S WHAT THE LEGISLATION WOULD DO:

Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services  to award grants for: (1) improving state comprehensive death scene investigations for sudden unexplained infant death (SUID) and sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC); and (2) increasing the rate of comprehensive and standardized autopsies for such deaths.

To develop national guidelines for a standard autopsy protocol for such deaths; and (2) commission a study on the benefits and appropriateness of genetic testing for infant and early childhood deaths that remain unexplained after investigation and autopsy.

To award grants for death scene investigation training; (2) establish a population-based case registry for SUID and SUDC deaths; (3) conduct a needs assessment for investigations and determinations of such deaths; and (4) develop public education and prevention programs to reduce stillbirths and address the racial and ethnic disparities in occurrence.

To award grants for death review programs and prevention strategies; (2) establish a public health awareness and education campaign on SUID and SUDC; and (3) award grants for support services to families who have experienced SUID, SUDC, or stillbirth.

Provides for surveillance and data collection on stillbirths and to establish a task force to develop a national research plan to determine the causes of, and how to prevent, stillbirths.

Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services  to award grants for: (1) improving state comprehensive death scene investigations for sudden unexplained infant death (SUID) and sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC); and (2) increasing the rate of comprehensive and standardized autopsies for such deaths.

To develop national guidelines for a standard autopsy protocol for such deaths; and (2) commission a study on the benefits and appropriateness of genetic testing for infant and early childhood deaths that remain unexplained after investigation and autopsy.

To award grants for death scene investigation training; (2) establish a population-based case registry for SUID and SUDC deaths; (3) conduct a needs assessment for investigations and determinations of such deaths; and (4) develop public education and prevention programs to reduce stillbirths and address the racial and ethnic disparities in occurrence.

To award grants for death review programs and prevention strategies; (2) establish a public health awareness and education campaign on SUID and SUDC; and (3) award grants for support services to families who have experienced SUID, SUDC, or stillbirth.

These two bills are in addition to Rep. Peter King (R-NY) Stillbirth Research Awareness Act. H.R. 3212. There are now three congressional bills introduced addressing stillbirths and child deaths in America.

On behalf of the millions of grieving parents and relatives of stillbirths in America, please pass H.R. 521 – The Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act of 2009. Stillbirths are the number one child killer in America representing 30,000 deaths in America – ten times more than SIDS. H.R. 521 – by United States House of Representative Peter King from New York – was introduced on January 14, 2009.

The bill would establish a national database registry for stillbirths to collect the necessary data to help better ascertain the causes and, thus, prevention of stillbirths. The cause of 50% of the stillbirths in America are unknown.

The bill directs the National Institute of Health to appropriate further stillbirth research. The pioneering 2003 stillbirth research project directed by the National Institute of Health under the directive of the U.S. Congress is completed and the medical researchers need further appropriations to foll0w up on their groundbreaking research.

The bill sets forth a national awareness program for precautionary measures for expecting parents to prevent stillbirths. SIDS’ awareness campaign was highly successful in preventing further SIDS. SIDS account for approximately 3000 deaths per year. Stillbirths account for 30,000 deaths per year.

The first step in generating support and passage for H.R. 521 is generating co-sponsorship for the bill by all U.S. House of Representatives. Please contact your U.S. House of Representative now to ask for their co-sponsorship of H.R. 521 – the Stillbirth Research Awareness and Research Act. If you do not know who your U.S. House of Representative is, please go to “Contacting The Congress” website and type in your address. The next steps are outlined in this site’s “How to Communicate with Your Elected Official” page for the step by step instructions.

She and May spent the next few months trying to find out why their daughter was stillborn, something Montgomery said she thought had “pretty much been eradicated back in the ’50s.” As they sought answers, they found a salve for their grief and meaning from Madeleine’s death by becoming advocates of stillbirth legislation in Congress, May said. Each year 25,000 to 30,000 babies are stillborn in the United States, experts say. Half of the time, the cause is a mystery. The number of stillbirths is nearly 10 times that of babies who die from sudden infant death syndrome, May said.

“We had several people say, ‘I thought stillbirths don’t happen in this day and age, and if they do, they happen to alcoholics and crack addicts,’ “Montgomery said. “There’s the stigma that you’ve done something wrong.”
Others didn’t understand why they were so upset and said since “we didn’t know her, how could it be that much of a loss?” Montgomery said.
“We had people we thought were friends of ours turn their backs
because they didn’t know what to say.”

Not long after losing Madeleine, Montgomery, 37, and May, 43, got in touch with the MISS Foundation, a national nonprofit volunteer organization that provides support to families that experience a death and advocates on behalf of stillbirth issues. They got help and offered to give back, said Joanne Cacciatore, the foundation’s executive director.
“There’s a shroud of silence around stillbirth,” said Cacciatore, a researcher and an assistant professor of death studies at Arizona State University. “There’s an implicit veil of shame that covers these women.” Montgomery went over the pregnancy in her mind for months and anguished about what she could have done differently. Why hadn’t she gone to the hospital sooner when, during the last days of her pregnancy, Madeleine’s kicking became sluggish? Montgomery didn’t know it was odd.

An autopsy determined that Madeleine’s heart had stopped at 41 weeks and four days, not long before doctors planned to induce labor. The autopsy also found a low level of placenta, meaning she was getting too little nutrition, Montgomery said. And Madeleine had a chromosomal abnormality that doctors told them could have caused the stillbirth. Montgomery and May say they aren’t convinced that they have a full answer, just pieces of the puzzle. But they said they wanted to help other parents.
“We ask people, ‘What are your talents,’ ” Cacciatore said. “And Richard came to me and said, ‘My passion is politics, and I don’t like how stillbirth is being ignored.’ “

The couple has experience in advocacy. May is public affairs director for the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations , and Montgomery is executive director of the Austin Visual Arts Association. As the MISS Foundation’s congressional liaisons, they promote federal legislation for more research funding and awareness for stillbirth issues. They want a national registry for stillbirths to discern patterns and possible causes. U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., carried legislation last session to do all of those things, but it didn’t pass. King plans to sponsor a similar bill this year, a spokeswoman said. Cacciatore said she isn’t optimistic about its prospects during the recession, but May said he hopes for support from President-elect Barack Obama, who sponsored similar legislation and might help push it.

Research funding is crucial, May said. Federal money for stillbirth research fell from $6 million in the 2006 federal budget year to $5.7 million in 2007, according to Robert Bock, press officer at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Montgomery and May said that while they gear up for the new Congress, they are reconciled to having lingering questions about Madeleine’s death. “I think we’ve gotten past needing answers,” Montgomery said. “She’s my answer,” May said, cuddling the couple’s 4-month-old daughter in his arms. Her name is Alaina.

Kelly West
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Kelli Montgomery and her husband, Richard May, were devastated when their first child, Madeleine, was stillborn. In struggling to understand what went wrong, the parents – who recently gave birth to a healthy daughter, Alaina – are pushing for federal legislation to establish a national registry to address the mystery and stigma of such deaths.
Kelly West
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Richard May, with infant daughter Alaina, decided to use his passion for politics to address the 25,000 to 35,000 stillbirths each year in the U.S. by volunteering with the nonprofit MISS Foundation.
Kelly West
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
A month after Kelli Montgomery’s first child, Madeleine, was born dead in March 2007, the mother
packed up the nursery she had been planning. Then she and her husband began looking into
something she thought had ‘pretty much been eradicated back in the 50s.

Prove your campaign pledge as parents do not have a lobbyist representing them and grieving parents are not a special interest therefore the stillbirth issue has been ignored. Reach across the party aisle and help the American family as both of you have promised.

In 2002, Sen. McCain helped secure $3 million in stillbirth research funding for the number-one child killer in America. McCain helped fund the first significant research regarding stillbirth deaths that account for 25,000 – 30,000 deaths per year in which half are unexplained.

In 2008, Sen. Obama introduced S. 3142 – the Preventing Stillbirth and SUID Act of 2008. S. 3142 is the first significant congressional legislation addressing stillbirth deaths that would establish a protocol, registry, database, education and funding necessary to address the number-one child killer in America.

Both Obama and McCain show true leadership in a health crisis that most lawmakers have ignored for decades. Both McCain and Obama are running for president under the mantle of reaching across party aisles to help American families. Preventing stillbirth deaths that destroy families is an issue that both candidates agree and have shown tremendous leadership. So, American families would like to ask Obama and McCain to further address stillbirth deaths and prove that you are true leaders as your campaigns promote.

1. Sen. McCain, please co-sponsor S. 3142 and help Sen. Obama pass the Preventing Stillbirth and SUID Act of 2008 into law.

2. Sen. Obama support further stillbirth research Sen. McCain supported as the appropriations and research are completed and the funds to follow-up stillbirth research are now needed through the National Institute of Child Health Development under the National Institute of Health.

3. Make sure the appropriations are under the existing NIH appropriations so taxpayers are not burdened but that parents are made a priority by addressing the number-one child killer in America.

Stillbirth deaths account for 10X the number deaths than SIDS yet have been virtually ignored. The death of a child is the most devastating event a family can ever face and a health crisis that both McCain and Obama want to address. Prove your campaign pledge as parents do not have a lobbyist representing them and grieving parents are not a special interest therefore the stillbirth issue has been ignored. If we, as parents and lawmakers, can help future stillbirths then we can prevent the tremendous grief and tragedy these deaths inflict on families and you will prove your campaign promise to work together for the American family.

We hope you respond. Thank you again from the millions of grieving families and for all the future families in America.