stats and legislation

i've been thinking about posting this for a while now, and i didn't want to, because of all my pregnant friends out there. but i think it's important to post.

michigan is one of many states that don't issue a birth certificate for a stillborn child. in my opinion there are 2 major problems with this.

1. it dehumanizes your child. it says that you never had a child. what's the difference between a child who takes 1 breath out of your body and a child that never takes a breath? aren't they both children?

2. because a birth certificate is not issued, the child never existed in the view of medical studies. 21 states issue birth certificates for stillborns. therefore all the other stillbirths in the states that don't offer birth certificates, do not get placed in medical studies. there are around 30,000 stillbirths in the US every year. that rate is 3 times the SIDS rate, yet most of the births are not placed in studies. how can we learn how to prevent stillborn births, if they aren't studied?

here are some stats;

1. stillbirth is the unintentional death of an unborn baby who has passed 20 completed gestational weeks as defined by the NICHD. These are not early losses or miscarriages. Rather these are the births of dead babies;
2. between 25,000-30,000 babies are stillborn in the U.S. each year, one in 100 pregnancies. Most occur at or near full term to otherwise apparently healthy babies;
3. approximately 40% of stillbirths occur with no diagnosable cause of death.
   
4. there is a bill that is being proposed to states that don't currently issue certificates of birth that can establish a law to provide a “Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth” as an optional document for families.
5. other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland already issue certificates of birth for stillborn babies.
6. the bill has been passed in 15 U.S. states, and legislation is currently pending in more than five states.
7. michigan is not one of these states.
   
8. a baby born at 19 weeks gestation, pre-viability, but who takes one breath is issued a Certificate of Live Birth and is counted in infant mortality rates.
9. conversely, a baby born at 40 weeks gestation and past viability can die just one second prior to birth, will only receive a death certificate, and is not counted in infant mortality statistics.

for more information please visit the MISS foundation website