Stillbirth Research and Awareness Act
At the federal level, MISS worked behind the scenes with the National Institute of Health (NIH) researchers and appropriations staff to secure $2 million to stillbirth research, the first grant ever awarded. Later, MISS secured an additional $1 million to advance the research. The groundbreaking research helped leading doctors from Maryland, Florida, Texas and New York create the first contextual basis for comparative research in the effort to find common causes regarding stillbirths.
Their research spawned the passage of the 2013 Stillbirth Research and Awareness Act to mandate all hospitals create and collect universal data for comprehensive analysis. The standardized collection of stillbirth data is a monumental achievement to provide researchers the necessary information previously unavailable.
This legislation was sponsored and backed by powerful members of Congress including then Sen. Barak Obama. MISS was part of a powerful coalition mobilizing a grassroots call for action educating and encouraging members of the U.S House and Senate to pass this very important legislation that united the majority of Congress both Republicans and Democrats.
While this initiative is groundbreaking in collecting necessary data for stillbirth research, there is still much more to do. MISS continues to support ongoing NIH and the National Institute of Child Health & Development (NICHD) efforts to continue their research.