[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 160 (Saturday, September 30, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S4895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH STILLBIRTH PREVENTION ACT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on Finance be discharged and the Senate proceed to the 
immediate consideration of S. 2231.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2231) to amend title V of the Social Security 
     Act to support stillbirth prevention and research, and for 
     other purposes.

  There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the 
Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I further ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or 
debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 2231) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 2231

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Maternal and Child Health 
     Stillbirth Prevention Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) According to the Centers for Disease Control and 
     Prevention--
       (A) in the United States, 1 in 175 births are affected by 
     stillbirth each year amounting to approximately 21,000 
     stillbirths annually;
       (B) of the 20,854 reported stillbirths in 2020, over 5,000 
     were experienced by Black mothers;
       (C) the number of stillbirths each year is greater than the 
     number of babies that die during the first year of life;
       (D) annual stillbirths are more than ten times the number 
     of annual deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS);
       (E) stillbirth occurs across all demographics and in 
     otherwise healthy pregnancies. It is most common, however, 
     among women who--
       (i) are Black or African American, at two times more likely 
     than White women to have a stillbirth;
       (ii) are of lower socioeconomic status;
       (iii) are diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, 
     obesity, or other medical conditions;
       (iv) are 35 years of age or older;
       (v) smoke cigarettes while pregnant;
       (vi) have previously experienced pregnancy loss; or
       (vii) have multiple pregnancies, for example triplets; and
       (F) while the rate of stillbirth has declined since the 
     1940s due to improvements in maternity care, in recent years, 
     the decline has slowed or halted.
       (2) According to a study by researcher Wall-Wieler et al., 
     published in Obstetrics and Gynecology, ``the risk of severe 
     maternal morbidity among stillbirth deliveries was more than 
     fourfold higher compared with live birth deliveries''.
       (3) According to a study by researcher McClure et al., 
     published in the International Journal of Gynecology and 
     Obstetrics, ``stillbirth was significantly associated with 
     maternal mortality''.
       (4) According to a review article by Murphy and Cacciatore, 
     published in Seminars in Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 
     stillbirth has psychological impacts on parents like grief, 
     shame, and guilt and impacts to family functioning and well-
     being.
       (5) Stillbirth, and the disparity in those impacted by 
     stillbirth requires further research, support, and prevention 
     programming.

     SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION SUPPORTING PERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS FOR 
                   STILLBIRTH PREVENTION ACTIVITIES.

       Section 501(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     701(a)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ``to reduce the 
     incidence of stillbirth,'' after ``among children,''; and
       (2) in paragraph (2), by inserting after ``follow-up 
     services'' the following: ``, and for evidence-based programs 
     and activities and outcome research to reduce the incidence 
     of stillbirth (including tracking and awareness of fetal 
     movements, improvement of birth timing for pregnancies with 
     risk factors, initiatives that encourage safe sleeping 
     positions during pregnancy, screening and surveillance for 
     fetal growth restriction, efforts to achieve smoking 
     cessation during pregnancy, community-based programs that 
     provide home visits or other types of support, and any other 
     research or evidence-based programming to prevent 
     stillbirths)''.

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