This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.
License [2]: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/Int'l.
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I told lawmakers about my stillborn child – and helped pass a key bill

By:   []

Date: 2021-09 

I drove an hour and a half to the Louisiana state capitol building in Baton Rouge, on 26 April, to tell legislators about my daughter Eliana.

On the journey, I kept thinking to myself: would I be able to do this? I had rarely spoken about what had happened. Now, I was about to do so before strangers who had the power to vote ‘no’ on a bill that could help many other women like me.

Eliana weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces when she was born on 8 February 2019. In my hospital bed, I held her tightly, fighting back tears so they wouldn’t cloud my final views of her face. Sometime that morning, she had passed away in utero. We never found out why.

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In the US, stillbirth is defined as a foetal death after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It affects about one in 160 births – meaning that there are about 24,000 stillbirths each year.

The emotional toll of this experience on my family was immense, as it is for many others. The financial toll was as well. Our notorious for-profit healthcare system charges an average of $13,811 per birth. If a baby takes one breath after being born and then passes away, the family can claim life insurance, and a tax credit. But not if they’re stillborn.

Only a handful of states provide a tax credit that can help alleviate some of the financial burden after a stillbirth. Louisiana was not one of them. This is why I was travelling to Baton Rouge – to share my story with state legislators in an attempt to change the law.
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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/i-told-lawmakers-about-my-stillborn-child-and-helped-pass-a-key-bill/
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