Legislative Hot Topics

1
Legislative Hot Topics

• Birth Resulting in Stillbirth Certificates
• Dorothy S. Harshbarger
• State Registrar and Director
• Alabama Center for Health Statistics

2
Proposed Legislation

• To have the state vital records office
• issue a document titled
• Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth
• instead of a Fetal Death Report

3
Who is Pushing Legislation

• MISS Foundation
• through MISSing Angels Bill
• Web site www.missingangelsbill.org
• National Stillbirth Society
• Web site www.stillnomore.org
• Many other websites connected to these

4
Reasons given for needing bill

• Stillbirth has been ignored in every public
  health arena in the country
• Issuing these certificates for stillbirths would
  allow clear definitions for accurate statistical
  analysis and enhanced understanding of
  stillbirth.

5
Reasons given for needing bill (cont.)

• Insensitivity to women who endure the death and
  the birth of their stillborn infant
• no willingness to acknowledge that this infant
  ever was
• The death of the baby is acknowledged by a Fetal
  Death Certificate but not the birth.

6
Process

• Coordinated effort across states
• Step by step process on web site
• Constituent in state contacts legislator to
  sponsor bill
• Tell story sample letter on web site
• Give state statistics
• Appears to be fairly standard wording introduced
  in bill

7
Bill Requirements

• For fetal deaths of 20 weeks or more gestation,
  the mother or father may request the State
  Registrar to prepare a Certificate of Birth
  Resulting in Stillbirth
• It shall meet all requirements for a certificate
  for a live birth with the exception of the name
• It becomes a permanent record

8
Goal

• Passage of legislation requiring all states to
  offer a Certificate of Birth Resulting in
  Stillbirth
• Must have legislation in state, not policy since
  policy can change

9
Goal (cont.)

• Although they are worded very similarly, a
  Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth
  and a Certificate of Stillbirth are not the
  same thing.
• Thus, our goal for those states that offer a
  Certificate of Stillbirth, is to change the
  certificate to a Certificate of Birth Resulting
  in Stillbirth which we view as a BIRTH
  certificate

10
Status

• Arizona first state to pass legislation 2001
• Indiana, Massachusetts,Utah 2002
• Maryland, Virginia 2003
• New Jersey, South Carolina, Wisconsin 2004
• Several others offer Certificate of Stillbirth
• Legislation introduced in many other states

11
Next

• Arizona just passed legislation giving a state
  income tax deduction to parents who obtain a
  Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth