Storms start to move out of Minnesota, continue for western Wisconsin

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

A bill to prevent stillbirths is headed to President Biden's desk after passing the U.S. Senate.

If signed into law, The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act would allocate millions of federal dollars to prevent stillbirths, defined by the Centers for Disease Control as the loss of a baby after 20 weeks of pregnancy. 

Every year in the United States, more than 20,000 pregnancies end in a stillbirth, and experts say a quarter of those could be prevented. 

Amanda Duffy, a Twin Cities mother who has had a daughter that was stillborn, has lobbied in Washington D.C. for the measure to be signed into law. Duffy was also instrumental in getting the Fetal Movement Education Bill (Senate File 1303) passed for the state of Minnesota this last session under the omnibus bill. 

Duffy joined MPR News host Tom Crann on All Things Considered to discuss the developments on Capitol Hill. 

“Before my daughter Reese was stillborn in Nov. 2 of 2014, it was just 16 hours before my scheduled C-section with her. And before that, I had no idea that stillbirth was so common,” Duffy said. 

“My life changed forever. And I knew that if there was anything that could be done to help prevent something like this for other families to experience, I was going to have to do it because I didn’t want anyone else to have to feel like this and to leave the hospital without one of their babies.”

To hear the full interview with Amanda Duffy, click play on the player above.

Josh Cobb

Author

Tom Crann

Host

A bill to designed to prevents stillbirths has now passed the U.S. Senate and House and is headed to the President Joe Biden’s desk. Amanda Duffy, a Twin Cities mother, whose daughter Reese was stillborn, has lobbied in Washington, D.C. for the measure and was key in getting a Fetal Movement Education Bill passed in Minnesota.

A bill to help save the lives of babies before they take their first breath is headed to President Biden's desk after passing the U.S. Senate earlier this week. If signed into law, the legislation would allow states to spend millions of federal dollars on preventing stillbirths, or the loss of a pregnancy after the 20-week mark. Every year, over 20,000 pregnancies end in a stillbirth across the nation and experts say a quarter of those could be prevented. 

Amanda Duffy, a Minnesota mother with a deep connection to this issue and has pushed for this legislation here in Minnesota and in Congress, shared more about the legislation.

Minnesota mom hopes federal stillbirth law will protect others from grief

Go Deeper.

Like this?