U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20015
Dear Representative:
On behalf of our 3 million members and the 50 million students they serve, we urge you VOTE YES on the Maternal and Child Health Stillborn Prevention Act (H.R. 4581), which is scheduled to come to the floor tomorrow. Votes on this issue may be included in NEA’s report card for the 118th Congress.
This bipartisan bill would expand the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant, part of the Social Security Act, to include research and activities to prevent stillbirths.
Every year in the United States, more than 23,000 pregnancies end in stillbirth, defined the death of an expected child at 20 or more weeks of gestation. That’s 10 times the number who succumb toSudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the leading cause of death among children in their first year.
Two months ago, the National Institutes of Health issued a report, Working to Address the Tragedy of Stillbirth, that called the U.S. stillbirth rate “unacceptably high.” Research shows that as many as 1 in 4 stillbirths could be prevented—an effort in which this bill could play an important role.
Please VOTE YES on the Maternal and Child Health Stillborn Prevention Act (H.R. 4581) when it comes to the floor.
Sincerely,
Marc Egan
Director of Government Relations
National Education Association
