Having a baby in the U.S. should be just as safe as flying. Here's why | Opinion
13,826 is the estimated number of babies who have been born still since March 31, 2022, the day that the SHINE for Autumn Act was introduced in the United States Senate. That’s 13,826 families who anticipated the birth of their child, only to have their child’s birth coincide with their death. That's 13,826 families who celebrated their pregnancies with family and friends, assembled cribs, installed car seats, spent nine months anxiously and excitedly awaiting the arrival of their new baby, but left the hospital with only a small box of mementos and pamphlets about grief after pregnancy loss.
Each year, more than 40,000 U.S. parents face the tragic reality of stillbirth — or the death of an expected child after 20 weeks’ gestation. The United States is finally waking up to the crisis that is stillbirth, with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development convening a Stillbirth Working Group of Council to examine stillbirth in the United States. This working group has been tasked with paying specific attention to: barriers related to stillbirth data collection, communities at higher risk for stillbirth, postpartum experiences of those who endure a stillbirth, and known risk factors for it.
The Stillbirth Working Group of Council held two public meetings in October and November. Presentations have included information on stillbirth reporting in the United States, legal matters related to stillbirth registration, trends in stillbirth rates and causes of stillbirth by major racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. The most recent set of presentations illuminated the challenges related to both stillbirth reporting in the U.S. and ascertaining the causes of stillbirth. In fact, one of the council members noted that it seemed as though a critical first step would be to improve data collection and better understanding the underlying causes of each stillbirth to inform future prevention efforts.
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Those of us who have been advocating for years for this kind of attention are grateful to see these puzzle pieces finally coming together as part of the Stillbirth Working Group of Council; however, these challenges are far from new.
Fortunately, first steps at addressing them have already been outlined in the bipartisan Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act of 2022, S. 3972. The SHINE for Autumn Act was introduced on March 31 by Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL. Companion legislation led by Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington-03; Lucille Roybal-Allard, California-40; Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma-02; and Kathy Castor, Florida-14; passed in the House of Representatives, with overwhelming bipartisan and majority support — 408-18 — on Dec. 8, 2021.
The SHINE for Autumn Act authorizes funding to address the exact concerns that were raised in the November Stillbirth Working Group of Council meeting. Specifically, the SHINE for Autumn Act requires:
Improved stillbirth data collection,
Implementation of a fellowship program to increase the United States’ capacity to conduct high quality fetal autopsies to learn why a stillbirth has occurred, and
Development of educational materials to increase stillbirth awareness
Congress, and the public, must recognize that with minimal investment we can do something about stillbirth — right now. With increased awareness, better education for pregnant individuals and their families, enhanced data collection, and dedicated resources, we can achieve the goals that stillbirth advocates, health providers, and researchers have been working toward for far too long.
As we think about what’s possible when it comes to stillbirth prevention, let’s consider the model set forth by the airlines, with an untold number of safety controls behind the scenes, but who also insist on passenger education at the beginning of every single flight. Anyone who has flown knows that their “seat cushion can be used as a flotation device in the unlikely event of a water landing,” along with countless additional tips to keep travelers safe. The sad and scary reality is our unborn babies aren’t receiving anywhere near the same level of concern. Pregnant people are rarely educated about the risks and realities of stillbirth, let alone the warning signs that something could be wrong with their baby.
While health care providers have their own set of safety controls — blood pressure checks, glucose screening tests, and ultrasound imaging, these only go so far. None of these measures empowers pregnant people with the knowledge of the risks and realities of stillbirth, and fails to equip them with invaluable knowledge that could save their expected child’s life.
If we take the metaphor of the airplane one step further, the number of stillbirths that occur in the United States each year is equivalent to two Boeing 737s, each with a maximum capacity of 188 passengers, crashing every week for an entire year. It is impossible to imagine a world in which planes were literally falling from the sky on a weekly basis, with everyone standing by and watching it happen.
And yet, it feels as though this is exactly what is happening with stillbirth in the United States. Thousands of babies die each year, and we are doing so little to prevent these tragic deaths. However, hope is not lost — the passage of the SHINE for Autumn Act will put us on a path to keep these metaphorical planes in the skies, and to send more families home from the hospital with their babies safe in their arms.
If you are interested in supporting the SHINE for Autumn Act, please contact your senators to let them know that the time is NOW to address the stillbirth crisis in the United States and URGE them to pass the noncontroversial, bipartisan SHINE for Autumn Act before the end of the 117th Congress. There’s no time to waste, we simply cannot afford to ignore the tens of thousands of lives lost every year in the United States.
Debbie Haine Vijayvergiya is the mother of Autumn Joy, who was born still in July 2011, and an advocate for legislation to address the stillbirth crisis in the United States.
Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist, PhD, MPH is an assistant professor of Epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health whose research focuses on stillbirth in the United States.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: US stillbirth rate can still be lowered — having a baby should be safe
