SUBMITTED BY: MONICA NOVAK, GUEST, OCTOBER 11th
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month

Babies aren?t supposed to die.? Yet, each year, in the United States alone, approximately 26,000 babies will be stillborn.? Another 26,000 will die within their first year of life.? And it is estimated that nearly one million babies will be lost to miscarriage.? Worldwide, these numbers become staggering.? While pregnancy and infant loss affects millions of people each year, there are still many who know little about it.? There are still many who are afraid to talk about it.? And grieving parents are still expected to quickly ?get over it? and get on with their lives.

That?s all changing.? In the past thirty years, more than 700 local, national, and international organizations have begun offering support and resources to bereaved parents and their caregivers.? The government took notice, and in 1988, President Ronald Reagan declared October to be Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.? Since that time, thousands of memorial walks and ceremonies have taken place across the United States.? And in September of 2006, October 15th was declared Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.

Parent support groups have successfully lobbied in fifteen states for the passing of the MISSing Angels Bill requiring that parents of stillborn children are given the option of receiving a Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth as opposed to only a Certificate of Death; five more states have pending legislation, and seven others have already passed similar legislation.? Not only about dignity and validation, the movement is also about maternal and newborn health and research.

The research sector has indeed undertaken numerous studies recently to learn the causes and treatment of miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant death, as well as the emotional effects on bereaved parents.? One such endeavor is an extensive international stillbirth study completed in 2005 by doctors from the University of Oslo, Yale, and Harvard, sponsored by two international parent support groups (www.momstudy.com).

Artists have joined the movement with The Secret Club Project, a national traveling exhibit and slide presentation featuring over forty-five international artists that aims to break the silence surrounding pregnancy loss and infertility by exhibiting, publishing, and presenting its growing collection of powerful works of art (www.secretclubproject.org).?

During the past several years, major magazines and newspapers have written with increasing frequency about the devastation of pregnancy and infant loss, and the subject is finding its way into mainstream television programming and news shows.

Put eloquently by Joanne Cacciatore, Founder of MISS Foundation, ?The death of a child at any age and from any cause?challenges families’ sense of security and causes stressors in even the most stable households.? The death of a child at any age is life’s most devastating tragedy.?? The time has come to shed light on the subject of pregnancy loss and infant death, for where there is light, there is healing and love.

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