Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day: Take Action

October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in
the United States. More than 25,000 children are stillborn in the
United States every year leaving mothers, entire families and
communities devastated. Estimates of the rate of occurrence of
stillbirth make it at least as common as autism.

Stillbirth
is not an intractable problem. Greater research would likely
significantly reduce its incidence, but good research requires good
data. H.R. 5979: Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act is under
consideration by Congress. This proposed bill would standardize
stillbirth investigation and diagnosis, thus providing more data for
the needed research. Better research means fewer children born still.

On
October 15th, remember the thousands of unfinished children lost and
the families who remain to grieve them. Honor them by taking action.
Let’s help pass H.R. 5979.

Action Steps:

Step 1. Use Your Blog to Enlist Others
-Copy the contents of this entire post and publish it on your blog immediately.

GOAL: Enlist 10 of your readers to spread the word

Step 2. Use Your E-mail to Enlist Others
-E-mail
5 bloggers and ask them (nicely and in an unspammy way) to publish
these action steps on their blog. Consider contacting celebrity
bloggers, political bloggers, medical bloggers, or bloggers who are not
part of your reading community.

GOAL: Enlist 3 bloggers outside of your normal blog sphere to spread the word in other online communities.

Step 3. Help Pass the Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act
-By
October 15th, publish a post on your blog supporting H.R. 5979
Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act. For maximum impact, title your
post: “Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act.”

GOAL: 1,000,000
Google results on October 15th when that term is searched for.
Currently, Google only returns 20,400 pages – most of which have
nothing to do with the bill.