I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3212 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to improve the health of children 

and reduce the occurrence of sudden unexpected infant death and to 

enhance public health activities related to stillbirth. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 14, 2009 

Mr. PALLONE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to improve the 

health of children and reduce the occurrence of sudden 

unexpected infant death and to enhance public health 

activities related to stillbirth. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stillbirth and SUID 

5 Prevention, Education, and Awareness Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3212 IH

1 (1) Every year, there are more than 25,000 

2 stillbirths in the United States. 

3 (2) Common diagnosable causes for stillbirth 

4 include genetic abnormalities, umbilical cord acci5 dents, infections, and placental problems. 

6 (3) A number of risk factors for stillbirth have 

7 been described in pregnant women such as maternal 

8 age, obesity, smoking, diabetes, and hypertension. 

9 (4) Because of advances in medical care over 

10 the last 30 years, much more is known about the 

11 causes of stillbirth. But for as many as 50 percent 

12 of stillbirths, the cause is never identified. 

13 (5) Sudden, Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) 

14 is the sudden death of an infant under 1 year of age 

15 that when first discovered did not have an obvious 

16 cause. These include those deaths that are later de17 termined to be from explained as well as unexplained 

18 causes. 

19 (6) In 2004, approximately 4,600 infants died 

20 suddenly and unexpectedly of no immediate obvious 

21 cause. Each year approximately 200 deaths of chil22 dren between the ages of 1 and 4 remain unex23 plained after a thorough case investigation is con24 ducted. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3212 IH

1 (7) The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome 

2 (SIDS) rate has been declining significantly since 

3 the early 1990s. However, research has found that 

4 the decline in SIDS since 1999 can be explained by 

5 increasing Sudden Unexpected Infant Death rates. 

6 (8) Many Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths 

7 are not investigated and, even when they are, cause8 of-death data are not collected and reported consist9 ently. 

10 (9) Inaccurate or inconsistent classification of 

11 cause and manner of death impedes prevention ef12 forts and complicates the ability to understand risk 

13 factors related to these deaths. 

14 (10) The National Child Death Review Case 

15 Reporting System collects comprehensive informa16 tion on the risk factors associated with SUID 

17 deaths. As of March 2009, 29 of the 49 States con18 ducting child death reviews are voluntarily submit19 ting data to this reporting system. 

20 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 

21 ACT. 

22 Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 241 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol24 lowing: 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘PART S—SUDDEN UNEXPECTED INFANT DEATH 

2 AND SUDDEN UNEXPLAINED DEATH IN 

3 CHILDHOOD 

4 ‘‘SEC. 399HH. DEFINITION. 

5 ‘‘In this part: 

6 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis7 trator’ means the Administrator of the Health Re8 sources and Services Administration. 

9 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 

10 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 

11 Prevention. 

12 ‘‘(3) STATE.—The term ‘State’ includes the 50 

13 States and the District of Columbia. 

14 ‘‘(4) SUDDEN UNEXPECTED INFANT DEATH; 

15 SUID.—The terms ‘sudden unexpected infant death’ 

16 and ‘SUID’ mean the sudden death of an infant 

17 under 1 year of age that when first discovered did 

18 not have an obvious cause. Such terms include those 

19 deaths that are later determined to be from ex20 plained as well as unexplained causes. 

21 ‘‘(5) SUDDEN UNEXPLAINED DEATH IN CHILD22 HOOD; SUDC.—The terms ‘sudden unexplained death 

23 in childhood’ and ‘SUDC’ mean the sudden death of 

24 a child older than 1 year of age which remains unex25 plained after a thorough case investigation, including 

26 a review of the clinical history and circumstances of 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 3212 IH

1 death, and performance of a complete autopsy with 

2 appropriate ancillary testing. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 399II. DEATH SCENE INVESTIGATION AND AUTOPSY. 

4 ‘‘(a) INVESTIGATIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.—The Secretary, acting through 

6 the Director, shall award grants to States to enable 

7 such States to improve the completion of comprehen8 sive death scene investigations for sudden unex9 pected infant death and sudden unexplained death in 

10 childhood. 

11 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

12 grant under paragraph (1), a State shall submit to 

13 the Secretary an application at such time, in such 

14 manner, and containing such information as the Sec15 retary may require. 

16 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State shall use 

18 amounts received under a grant under para19 graph (1) to improve the completion of com20 prehensive death scene investigations for sud21 den unexpected infant death and sudden unex22 plained death in childhood, including through 

23 the awarding of subgrants to local jurisdictions 

24 to be used to implement standard death scene 

25 investigation protocols for sudden unexpected 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 3212 IH

1 infant death and sudden unexplained death in 

2 childhood and conduct comprehensive and to 

3 conduct standardized autopsies. 

4 ‘‘(B) PROTOCOLS.—A standard death 

5 scene protocol implemented under subparagraph 

6 (A) shall include the obtaining of information 

7 on current and past medical history of the in8 fant/child, the circumstances surrounding the 

9 death including any suspicious circumstances, 

10 the sleep position and sleep environment of the 

11 infant/child, and whether there were any acci12 dental or environmental factors associated with 

13 the death. The Director in consultation with 

14 medical examiners, coroners, death scene inves15 tigators, law enforcement, emergency medical 

16 technicians and paramedics, public health agen17 cies, and other individuals or groups determined 

18 necessary by the Director shall develop a stand19 ard death scene protocol for children from 1 to 

20 4 years of age using existing protocols devel21 oped for SUID. 

22 ‘‘(b) AUTOPSIES.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 

24 through the Director, shall award grants to States 

25 to enable such States to increase the rate at which 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 3212 IH

1 comprehensive and standardized autopsies are per2 formed for sudden unexpected infant death and sud3 den unexplained death in childhood. 

4 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

5 grant under paragraph (1), a State shall submit to 

6 the Secretary an application at such time, in such 

7 manner, and containing such information as the Sec8 retary may require. 

9 ‘‘(3) COMPREHENSIVE AUTOPSY.—For purposes 

10 of this subsection, a comprehensive autopsy shall in11 clude a full external and internal examination of all 

12 major organs and tissues including the brain, com13 plete radiographs, metabolic testing, and toxicology 

14 screening of the infant/child involved. 

15 ‘‘(4) GUIDELINES.—The Director, in consulta16 tion with board certified forensic pathologists, med17 ical examiners, coroners, pediatric pathologists, pedi18 atric cardiologists, pediatric neuropathologists and 

19 geneticists, and other individuals and groups deter20 mined necessary by the Director shall develop na21 tional guidelines for a standard autopsy protocol for 

22 sudden unexpected infant death and sudden unex23 plained death in childhood. The Director shall en24 sure that the majority of such consultation is with 

25 board certified forensic pathologists, medical examVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:23 Jul 15, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212

smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 3212 IH

1 iners, and coroners. The Director is encouraged to 

2 seek additional input from child abuse experts, be3 reavement specialists, parents, and public health 

4 agencies on non-medical aspects of the autopsy 

5 guidelines. In developing such protocol, the Director 

6 shall consider autopsy protocols used by State and 

7 local jurisdictions. 

8 ‘‘(c) STUDY ON GENETIC TESTING.—The Director, 

9 in consultation with medical examiners, coroners, forensic 

10 pathologists, geneticists, researchers, public health offi11 cials, and other individuals and groups determined nec12 essary by the Director, shall commission a study to deter13 mine the benefits and appropriateness of genetic testing 

14 for infant and early childhood deaths that remain unex15 plained after a complete death scene investigation and 

16 comprehensive and standardized autopsy. Such study shall 

17 include recommendations on developing a standard pro18 tocol for use in determining when to utilize genetic testing 

19 and standard protocols for the collection and storage of 

20 specimens suitable for genetic testing. 

21 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 is authorized to be appropriated, such sums as may be 

23 necessary for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014, to 

24 carry out this section. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘SEC. 399JJ. TRAINING. 

2 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary, acting through the 

3 Director, shall award grants to eligible entities for the pro4 vision of training on death scene investigation. 

5 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 

6 a grant under subsection (a), an entity shall— 

7 ‘‘(1) be— 

8 ‘‘(A) a State or local government entity; or 

9 ‘‘(B) a non-profit private entity; and 

10 ‘‘(2) submit to the Secretary an application at 

11 such time, in such manner, and containing such in12 formation as the Secretary may require. 

13 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity shall use 

14 amounts received under a grant under this section to— 

15 ‘‘(1) provide training to medical examiners, 

16 coroners, death scene investigators, law enforcement 

17 personnel, and emergency medical technicians or 

18 paramedics concerning death scene investigations, 

19 including the use of standard death scene investiga20 tion protocols that include information on the cur21 rent and past medical history of the infant/child, the 

22 circumstances surrounding the death including any 

23 suspicious circumstances, the sleep position and 

24 sleep environment of the infant/child, and whether 

25 there were any accidental or environmental factors 

26 associated with the death; 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘(2) provide training directly to individuals who 

2 are responsible for conducting and reviewing death 

3 scene investigations for sudden unexpected infant 

4 death and sudden unexplained death in childhood; 

5 ‘‘(3) provide training to multidisciplinary teams, 

6 including teams that have a medical examiner or 

7 coroner, death scene investigator, law enforcement 

8 representative, and an emergency medical technician 

9 or paramedic; 

10 ‘‘(4) in the case of national and State-based 

11 grantees that is comprised of medical examiners, 

12 coroners, death scene investigators, law enforcement 

13 personnel, or emergency medical technicians and 

14 paramedics, integrate training under the grant on 

15 death scene investigation into professional accredita16 tion and training programs; 

17 ‘‘(5) in the case of State and local government 

18 entity grantees, obtain equipment, including com19 puter equipment, to aid in the completion of stand20 ard death scene investigation; or 

21 ‘‘(6) conduct training activities for medical ex22 aminers, coroners, and forensic pathologists con23 cerning standard autopsy protocols for sudden unex24 pected infant death and sudden unexplained death in 

25 childhood. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

3 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

4 2010 through 2014. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 399KK. CHILD DEATH REVIEW. 

6 ‘‘(a) PREVENTION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) CORE CAPACITY GRANTS.—The Secretary, 

8 acting through the Administrator, shall award 

9 grants to States to build State capacity and imple10 ment State and local child death review programs 

11 and prevention strategies. 

12 ‘‘(2) PLANNING GRANTS.—The Secretary, act13 ing through the Administrator, shall award planning 

14 grants to States that have no existing child death re15 view program or States in which the only child death 

16 review programs are State-based, for the develop17 ment of local child death review programs and pre18 vention strategies. 

19 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

20 grant under paragraph (1) or (2), a State shall sub21 mit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 

22 such manner, and containing such information as 

23 the Secretary may require. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘(4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary, 

2 acting through the Administrator, shall provide tech3 nical assistance to assist States— 

4 ‘‘(A) in developing the capacity for com5 prehensive child death review programs, includ6 ing the development of best practices for the 

7 implementation of such programs; and 

8 ‘‘(B) in maintaining the national child 

9 death case reporting system. 

10 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 is authorized to be appropriated, such sums as may be 

12 necessary for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014, to 

13 carry out subsection (a). 

14 ‘‘SEC. 300LL. NATIONAL REGISTRY FOR SUDDEN UNEX15 PECTED INFANT DEATHS AND SUDDEN UNEX16 PLAINED DEATH IN CHILDHOOD. 

17 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, acting 

18 through the Director and in consultation with the national 

19 child death case reporting system, the Administrator of 

20 the Health Resources and Services Administration, na21 tional health organizations, and professional societies with 

22 experience and expertise relating to reducing SUID and 

23 SUDC, shall establish a population-based SUID and 

24 SUDC case registry that can facilitate the understanding 

25 of the root causes, rates, and trends of SUID and SUDC. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
13 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL REGISTRY.—The national registry 

2 established under subsection (a) shall facilitate the collec3 tion, analysis, and dissemination of data by— 

4 ‘‘(1) implementing a surveillance and moni5 toring system based on thorough and complete death 

6 scene investigation data, clinical history, and au7 topsy findings; 

8 ‘‘(2) collecting standardized information about 

9 the environmental, medical, genetic, and social cir10 cumstances of death (including sleep environment 

11 and quality of the death scene investigation) if de12 termined that such may correlate with infant and 

13 early childhood deaths, as well as information from 

14 other law enforcement, medical examiner, coroner, 

15 emergency medical services (EMS), medical records, 

16 and vital records (if possible); 

17 ‘‘(3) supporting multidisciplinary infant and 

18 early childhood death reviews such as those per19 formed by child death review committees to collect 

20 and review the standardized information and accu21 rately and consistently classify and characterize 

22 SUID and SUDC; and 

23 ‘‘(4) facilitating the sharing of information to 

24 improve the public reporting of surveillance and vital 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
14 

•HR 3212 IH

1 statistics describing the epidemiology of SUID and 

2 SUDC. 

3 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

5 such sums as necessary for each of fiscal years 2010 

6 through 2014. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 399MM. PUBLIC AWARENESS AND EDUCATION CAM8 PAIGN. 

9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, acting 

10 through the Administrator and in consultation with the 

11 Director and the Director of the National Institutes of 

12 Health, shall establish and implement a culturally com13 petent public health awareness and education campaign 

14 to provide information that is focused on decreasing the 

15 risk factors for sudden unexpected infant death and sud16 den unexplained death in childhood, including educating 

17 individuals about safe sleep environments, sleep positions, 

18 and reducing exposure to smoking during pregnancy and 

19 after birth. 

20 ‘‘(b) TARGETED POPULATIONS.—The campaign 

21 under subsection (a) shall be designed to reduce health 

22 disparities through the targeting of populations with high 

23 rates of sudden unexpected infant death and sudden unex24 plained death in childhood. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
15 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘(c) CONSULTATION.—In establishing and imple2 menting the campaign under subsection (a), the Secretary 

3 shall consult with national organizations representing 

4 health care providers, including nurses and physicians, 

5 parents, child care providers, children’s advocacy and safe6 ty organizations, maternal and child health programs and 

7 women’s, infants and children nutrition professionals, and 

8 other individuals and groups determined necessary by the 

9 Secretary for such establishment and implementation. 

10 ‘‘(d) GRANTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the cam12 paign under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

13 award grants to national organizations, State and 

14 local health departments, and community-based or15 ganizations for the conduct of education and out16 reach programs for nurses, parents, child care pro17 viders, public health agencies, and community orga18 nizations. 

19 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

20 grant under paragraph (1), an entity shall submit to 

21 the Secretary an application at such time, in such 

22 manner, and containing such information as the Sec23 retary may require. 

24 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

25 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
16 

•HR 3212 IH

1 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

2 2010 through 2014. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 399NN. GRANTS FOR SUPPORT SERVICES. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

5 the Administrator, shall award grants to national organi6 zations, State and local health departments, and commu7 nity-based organizations, for the provisions of support 

8 services to families who have had a child die of sudden 

9 unexpected infant death and sudden unexplained death in 

10 childhood. 

11 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

12 under subsection (a), an entity shall submit to the Sec13 retary an application at such time, in such manner, and 

14 containing such information as the Secretary may require. 

15 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts received under a 

16 grant awarded under subsection (a) may be used to pro17 vide grief counseling, education, home visits, 24-hour hot18 lines, and support groups for families who have lost a child 

19 to sudden unexpected infant death or sudden unexplained 

20 death in childhood. 

21 ‘‘(d) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants under sub22 section (a), the Secretary shall give preference to commu23 nity-based applicants that have a proven history of effec24 tive direct support services and interventions for sudden 

25 unexpected infant death and sudden unexplained death in 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
17 

•HR 3212 IH

1 childhood and can demonstrate experience through col2 laborations and partnerships for delivering services 

3 throughout a State or region. 

4 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

6 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

7 2010 through 2014. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 399OO. EVALUATION OF STATE AND REGIONAL 

9 NEEDS. 

10 ‘‘The Secretary, acting through the Director and in 

11 consultation with the Administrator, shall conduct a needs 

12 assessment on a State and regional basis of the availability 

13 of personnel, training, technical assistance, and resources 

14 for investigating and determining sudden unexpected in15 fant death and sudden unexplained death in childhood 

16 death and make recommendations to increase collabora17 tion on a State and regional level for investigation and 

18 determination.’’. 

19 SEC. 4. ENHANCING PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIVITIES RELATED 

20 TO STILLBIRTH. 

21 Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

22 (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended— 

23 (1) by redesignating the second section 399R 

24 (relating to the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis registry 

25 (42 U.S.C. 280g–7)) and the third section 399R (reVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:23 Jul 15, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212

smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
18 

•HR 3212 IH

1 lating to support for patients receiving a positive di2 agnosis of down syndrome or other prenatally or 

3 postnatally diagnosed conditions (42 U.S.C. 280g– 

4 8)) as sections 399S and 399T respectively; and 

5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 399U. ENHANCING PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIVITIES RE7 LATED TO STILLBIRTH. 

8 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary, acting through the 

9 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven10 tion, shall award grants to eligible States and metropolitan 

11 areas to enhance and expand surveillance efforts to collect 

12 thorough and complete epidemiologic information on still13 births, including through the utilization of the infrastruc14 ture of existing surveillance systems. 

15 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

16 under subsection (a), an entity shall be— 

17 ‘‘(1) a State or a major metropolitan area (as 

18 defined by the Secretary); and 

19 ‘‘(2) submit to the Secretary an application at 

20 such time, in such manner, and containing such in21 formation as the Secretary may require, including an 

22 assurance that the applicant will implement the 

23 standardized surveillance protocol developed under 

24 subsection (c). 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
19 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘(c) SURVEILLANCE PROTOCOL.—The Secretary, 

2 acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease 

3 Control and Prevention, shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) provide for the continued development and 

5 dissemination of a standard protocol for stillbirth 

6 data collection and surveillance, in consultation with 

7 representatives of health and advocacy organizations, 

8 State and local governments, and other interested 

9 entities determined appropriate by the Secretary; 

10 ‘‘(2) monitor trends and identify potential risk 

11 factors for further study using existing sources of 

12 surveillance data and expanded sources of data from 

13 targeted surveillance efforts, and methods for the 

14 evaluation of stillbirth prevention efforts; and 

15 ‘‘(3) develop and evaluate methods to link exist16 ing data to provide more complete information for 

17 research into the causes and conditions associated 

18 with stillbirth. 

19 ‘‘(d) POSTMORTEM EVALUATION AND DATA COLLEC20 TION.—The Secretary, acting through the Director of the 

21 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in con22 sultation with physicians, nurses, pathologists, geneticists, 

23 parents, and other groups determined necessary by the Di24 rector, shall develop guidelines for increasing the perform25 ance and data collection of postmortem stillbirth evaluaVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:23 Jul 15, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212

smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
20 

•HR 3212 IH

1 tion, including conducting and reimbursing autopsies, pla2 cental histopathlogy and cytogentic testing. The guidelines 

3 should take into account cultural competency issues re4 lated to postmortem stillbirth evaluation. 

5 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMMATIC ACTIVITIES

6 RELATED TO STILLBIRTH.—The Secretary, acting 

7 through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 

8 and Prevention, shall— 

9 ‘‘(1) develop behavioral surveys for women ex10 periencing stillbirth, using existing State-based in11 frastructure for pregnancy-related information gath12 ering; and 

13 ‘‘(2) increase the technical assistance provided 

14 to States, Indian tribes, territories, and local com15 munities to enhance capacity for improved investiga16 tion of medical and social factors surrounding still17 birth events. 

18 ‘‘(f) PUBLIC EDUCATION AND PREVENTION PRO19 GRAMS.—The Secretary, acting through the Director of 

20 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in 

21 consultation with health care providers, public health or22 ganizations, maternal and child health programs, parents, 

23 and other groups deemed necessary by the Director, shall 

24 directly or through grants, cooperative agreements, or con25 tracts to eligible entities, develop and conduct evidenceVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:23 Jul 15, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3212.IH H3212

smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
21 

•HR 3212 IH

1 based public education and prevention programs aimed at 

2 reducing the occurrence of stillbirth overall and addressing 

3 the racial and ethnic disparities in its occurrence, includ4 ing— 

5 ‘‘(1) public education programs, services, and 

6 demonstrations which are designed to increase gen7 eral awareness of stillbirths; and 

8 ‘‘(2) the development of tools for the education 

9 of health professionals and women concerning the 

10 known risks factors for stillbirth, promotion of fetal 

11 movement awareness, taking proactive steps to mon12 itor a baby’s movement beginning at approximately 

13 28 weeks into the pregnancy, and the importance of 

14 early and regular prenatal care to monitor the 

15 health and development of the fetus up to and dur16 ing delivery. 

17 ‘‘(g) TASK FORCE.—The Secretary, in consultation 

18 with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the 

19 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven20 tion, and health care providers, researchers, parents, and 

21 other groups deemed necessary by the Directors, shall es22 tablish a task force to develop a national research plan 

23 to determine the causes of, and how to prevent, stillbirth. 

24 ‘‘(h) GRANTS FOR SUPPORT SERVICES.— 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
22 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 

2 through the Administrator of the Health Resources 

3 and Services Administration, shall award grants to 

4 national organizations, State and local health de5 partments, and community-based organizations, for 

6 the provisions of support services to families who 

7 have experienced stillbirth. 

8 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

9 grant under subsection (a), an entity shall submit to 

10 the Secretary an application at such time, in such 

11 manner, and containing such information as the Sec12 retary may require. 

13 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts received under 

14 a grant awarded under subsection (a) may be used 

15 to provide grief counseling, education, home visits, 

16 24-hour hotlines, and support groups for families 

17 who have experienced stillbirth. 

18 ‘‘(4) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants under 

19 subsection (a), the Secretary shall give preference to 

20 applicants that are community-based organizations 

21 that have a proven history of providing effective di22 rect support services and interventions related to 

23 stillbirths and can demonstrate experience through 

24 collaborations and partnerships for delivering serv25 ices throughout a State or region. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
23 

•HR 3212 IH

1 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘still2 birth’ means a spontaneous, not induced, pregnancy loss 

3 20 weeks or after, or if the age of the fetus is not known, 

4 then a fetus weighing 350 grams or more. 

5 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

7 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

8 2010 through 2014.’’. 

9 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

10 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 

12 acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease 

13 Control and Prevention and in consultation with the Di14 rector of the National Institutes of Health and the Admin15 istrator of the Health Resources and Services Administra16 tion, shall submit to Congress a report describing the 

17 progress made in implementing this Act (and the amend18 ments made by this Act). 

Æ 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS