How to Use the Directory

Welcome to the Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss Directory. This blog is maintained by volunteers to act like a "telephone book" for blogs dealing with the loss of a baby. It is open to anyone who has ever lost a baby in any way - we do not discriminate by age of your baby or circumstance of your loss. If you think you belong here, then we think you belong here.

When you submit your blog, it is manually added to the list, so it may take some time for it to appear on the list. When you submit your information as requested below, it is easier to spot those emails that have been redirected into the spam mail.

Blogs are listed by category of loss. This is to help you find blogs that deal with circumstances that may be similar to yours. That being said, it can be a moving and healing experience to read the blogs of people who's loss is not similar to yours. You are welcome to read any of the blogs listed here.

Though there could be literally thousands of categories of loss, we have created 4 broad categories: before 20 weeks, after 20 weeks, after birth, and medical termination. Please note that most blogs dealing with extreme prematurity are listed in the "after birth" category even though the gestational age might suggest a different category.

As a warning to those feeling particularly fragile, many of the blogs listed here discuss living children or subsequent pregnancies. In the sidebar links, those blogs are usually marked with an asterisk(*). However, the circumstances of individual bloggers will change, and sometimes the listings do not get updated. It is possible to encounter pictures of living children or pregnant bellies on the blogs listed here.

We also have a list of resources (books), online links, and online publications that you may find useful. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see the full listing of links.

We are so sorry the loss of a beloved child has brought you here. We hope that you will find some solace within the community that has gathered.
Please help us set up this resource for grieving families by:

Welcome

A. Submitting your blog information
(Email Subject: Please Add My Blog)
  • The link to your blog
  • The title of your blog
  • The topic of your blog (see sidebar - Personal Blogs)
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B. Submitting links to helpful web resources
(Email Subject: Please Add This Link)

C. Submitting titles of helpful reading materials or videos/films
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D. Adding a link to this site from your blog

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Sunday, April 8, 2007

Press Release from the National Stillbirth Society and MISS Foundation

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Stuns Tens-of Thousands of Bereaved Parents and Vetoes the MISSing Angels Bill

Parents nationwide outraged at indifference and ignorance!

Albuquerque, NM. (April 7, 2007)--- Just last month, the New Mexico MISSing Angels Bill (SB17), passed the New Mexico legislature with unanimous, bipartisan support. Yet, today, April 7, 2007, presidential hopeful and Governor Bill Richardson vetoed this important piece of legislation, making New Mexico the first of nearly 30 states to reject the will of its citizens and legislators regarding the way in which the birth of a stillborn baby is recognized and recorded.

The MISSing Angels Bill (SB17) was created to help provide much-needed comfort, dignity, and legal documentation to women and their families experiencing the death of a baby just prior to or during birth. Currently, New Mexico law requires reporting of stillbirth/fetal deaths and demands that families pay funeral costs for their deceased baby, yet provides no acknowledgement that the baby was born. “It’s an unthinkable tragedy,” says Carin Dhouadi, New Mexico resident and constituent. “I gave birth to a full term baby who died, and the state says I must bury her. But they won’t say she was born? How can you die if you never were?”

Joanne Cacciatore, CEO of the MISS Foundation and a PhD Candidate who studies stillbirth, passed the first bill in Arizona in 2001, and has worked to pass it in other states since. She says that families around the nation are outraged at Richardson’s move. “Richardson has just flippantly driven a stake through the heart of this legislation that addresses the ultimate woman’s issue…Women give birth. And their babies- about one in 100- are dying as a result of stillbirth. He’s perpetuating the ignorance,” she says.

The change might not seem significant to many. However, to those who have experienced the anguish of losing a baby – SB17 is an important step in allowing grieving parents the same respect given to the woman leaving the hospital with a healthy infant in her arms. “This bill had support from everyone, including pro-choice legislators like Representatives Gail Chasey and Mimi Stewart, who understand this as an important woman’s issue,” said Halo Golden, volunteer lobbyist for the NM bill and the mother of a stillborn baby. Richard Olsen of the National Stillbirth Society believes that this move was ‘political pandering’, stating that the “governor’s veto is an insensitive act that marginalizes women and ignores the interests of his own constituents in favor of his presidential aspirations.”

Cacciatore agrees, saying, “Richardson just vetoed a critical woman’s issue, for no sound reason, and with unilateral authority…Is this the type of person we can trust to represent women’s interests across America? Richardson won’t get the votes of hundreds of thousands of our grieving parents across the country…The vetoing of this bill is a ham handed misjudgment on the governor’s part.”

“He clearly doesn’t understand this bill, and didn’t take the time to inform himself. It’s shameful. He’s slapped grieving mothers and father in the face, not just in New Mexico, but across the country,” says Daryl Logullo, National Legislative Liaison for the MISS Foundation. “He owes them, and the people of the state, an immediate apology and a commitment to this important law that parents dearly want.”

Approximately 30,000 babies are stillborn each year in the United States. The cause of death for more than half the number of full-term (40-week) stillbirths is unknown, even after autopsy.


The MISS Foundation and the National Stillbirth Society are getting ready to launch an awareness campaign targeted at educating the governor so he wholly understands the issue. The organizations are also calling for the governor to request a special session to address it and issue an apology to bereaved parents whose babies were stillborn. For more information on the MISSing Angels Bill visit http://www.missingangelsbill.org/ or http://www.missfoundation.org/.

Please email and call Governor Bill Richardson and express your feelings!http://www.governor.state.nm.us/emailchoice.php?mm=6
http://www.richardsonforpresident.com/page/s/contact

Tell him he will NOT get your vote!

Then call his office (505) 476-2200 and tell him he's offended bereaved women and men and children across the nation. Tell him we stand against him until he calls a special session to sign this bill!

**UPDATE: Some members have reported not being able to get through on the number in the earlier notice. Try 505-982-2291. - Richard Olsen, National Stillbirth Society***

4 comments:

niobe said...

Just curious. Did he give a reason for the veto? Though it's hard to imagine what it would be -- cost? Or perhaps feeling like it's really driven by a hidden agenda?

kate said...

I am completely outraged. He will hear from me, that is for sure. Repeatedly.

niobe, here is a copy of the veto letter: bill-richardson-veto.pdf

Whatever that supposedly means. My guess is the hidden agenda is a pro-abortion stance -- remember that this guy is a presidential candidate. This is the same line of argument that defeated the MISSing Angels bill in Calfornia -- there is a segment of the pro-choice movement that views this issue as 'exanding fetal rights' and therefore being dangerous to abortion rights. (for what it's worth, i'm pro-choice myself, but as we know, stillbirth has nothing to do with choice!!)

kate said...

that should say 'expanding fetal rights'. Too pissed off to type at this point...

The funny thing is that i logged on to check blogs in an effort to calm myself after something really irritating happened to me at work. Therefore, at this point, i am really ready to hit someone!

zbayardo said...

not that i agree with his veto of a very important bill, but i get the feeling he wants the wording done right. from reading the veto letter it sounds like he has a problem with semantics. i'm interested in finding out what he thinks of the meaning behind the bill. does he know what we're trying to get at with this bill? i think "politics" is getting in the way of something so simply in this case.