Booker and Rubio introduce legislation to reduce stillbirth rate in the United States

Washington DC. – Today, US Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) presented the Improved Stillbirth Health and Education (SHINE) for Fall Law, legislation that aims to reduce the alarming rate of stillbirths in the United States. Named after Autumn Joy, a stillborn New Jersey baby in 2011, the bill would provide critical resources to states, local public health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other organizations. other related federal agencies to improve data collection and increase stillbirth education and awareness in the United States. Complementary legislation led by Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-03), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Markwayne Mullin (OK-02), and Kathy Castor (FL-14) passed the House of Representatives in December of 2021.

“As countries around the world strive to reduce stillbirth rates, the United States continues to lag behind, resulting in thousands of families, especially black families, experiencing the tragic pain of ‘a stillborn baby’, said Senator Booker. “Increasing federal resources for essential health initiatives will allow us to prevent a significant number of stillbirths. To that end, I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation that will enhance federal, state, and local partnerships on stillbirth data collection and help improve research, education, and awareness of this critical issue.

“The stillbirth rate in the United States is unacceptable and must be addressed,” said Senator Rubio. “Losing a child is an unimaginable tragedy and we should use all available federal resources to prevent this devastating loss of life. I am proud to introduce bipartisan legislation that would use federal resources to dramatically reduce the number of stillbirths in the United States.

“Loss of fall led me to lose faith, that is until now”, said Debbie Haine Vijayvergiya, mother of Autumn Joy for whom the bill is named and founder of the 2 Degrees Foundation. “To see this issue receive such overwhelming support over the past few months has healed my soul. I wholeheartedly salute the bipartisan effort to advance the SHINE for Autumn Act and am deeply grateful to Senator Cory Booker and Senator Marco Rubio for championing this essential legislation in the Senate. Ultimately, losing tens of thousands of babies each year should not be acceptable. We have a responsibility to understand why stillbirths occur and to identify what may be made to fight this crisis. We can no longer ignore this problem. We can and must do better for our future mothers and children. The time has come for us to SHINE the light on stillbirth so that we can come out of the shadows this tragic maternal and family health issue once and for all!”

More specifically, the SHINE for the fall act would allow:

• Grants to states to support data collection and reporting on stillbirth and stillbirth risk factors.
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in coordination with health care providers, to develop guidelines and educational materials for state departments of health and statistics on collecting data on stillbirth, data sharing and education materials on stillbirth.
• The creation of the Perinatal Pathology Fellowship Program at the NIH to fund fellowships in stillbirth research, including fetal autopsy research and training and improving education, research, and data collection .
• A report on the effectiveness of the Perinatal Pathology Fellowship Program after five years of enactment