super sweet stillbirth resulution

as i posted earlier, barb byrum,our state representative, stopped by our sub a few weeks ago and i talked to her about the prevalence of still born babies and how our state doesn't truly recognize them as being born. the other day i got this email from her. how cool is this?!?!

Kim,

I hope this email finds you and Asher doing well.

Per our conversation on August 20th, I wanted to let you know that yesterday, I co-sponsored a resolution that will memorialize Congress to enact H.R. 5979, The Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act.

As we discussed, the CDC collects data on stillbirths but the data is incomplete and inconsistent. I have also found that "stillbirth" has many different definitions, which makes comprehensive research into the causes and prevention of stillbirth and the creation of a standardized data collection protocol nearly impossible.

H.R. 5979, the Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act, would promote stillbirth research by standardizing the definition of stillbirth and creating a national repository for stillbirth data. It would also help increase public awareness of the risks for stillbirth, encourage the Director of National Institute of Health to allocate more resources to stillbirth research and promote state legislation allowing the issuance of a Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth.

I will continue to keep in touch as since our meeting, I have acquired an increased concern about stillbirth deaths.

Sincerely,
Barb Byrum
State Representative
District 67

i guess it does pay off sometimes to talk to your state representatives!!! i sure hope that this passes some day...for all states.