It is official! We have a number, HB 196, for the bill. It is titled "Registration of Fetal Deaths." Here is the bill's web address:
http://nmlegis.gov/Sessions/09%20Regular/bills/house/HB0196.pdf
There is a status page that will tell you where the bill is going, what actions have been taken, and if there have been any amendments made to it. Here is the bill's status page:
http://nmlegis.gov/lcs/_session.aspx?chamber=H&legtype=B&legno=%20196&year=09
So, everyone ready? Start calling/faxing your Representatives and Senators. Ask them to support HB 196. Here is the web address to help you find your legislators:
http://nmlegis.gov/lcs/legislatorsearch.aspx
If you are interested in attending committee meetings, you will need to check the Agendas and Calendars page. However, keep in mind that some committee schedules and agendas are published too close to the actual meeting time and are not actually posted online. They do their best, but it just isn't always possible. If something is on short notice, I will do my best to post it here. Here is the web address for the Agendas and Calendars page:
http://nmlegis.gov/lcs/agecalendars.aspx
We are super excited to get started, but of course we are still pretty much waiting. The Regular Session opened on Tuesday, Jan. 20, but the actual committees have not even started getting to work yet. Most of their meetings have been "organizational" or "orientation." At this point, Carin and I will be contacting various committee members in both the House and the Senate to solicit their support and, hopefully, air out any concerns or questions they may have.
Please let us know if you have questions, comments or concerns. If I've left anything out, please let me know.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Ready . . . Set . . . Wait
We now have version 4 of the bill in our possession, and, as far as we can tell, it is complete. Now we are just waiting for it to be pre-filed. Pre-filing closes on Friday. I will post the bill number as soon as we actually know what it is.
A couple of things:
We are hoping to get Rep. Mimi Stewart to agree to co-sponsor the bill. She still needs to look over the final draft before making that decision. We hope to have an answer to this issue next week. We are looking for a woman who is a democrat to co-sponsor so that we can make this a non-partisan (or at least bi-partisan) bill.
We had a meeting today with Jane Wishner of the Southwest Women's Law Center and Martha Edmonds of Planned Parenthood. They have both agreed to a neutral stance on the bill in its current form. Neutral is good. Support is something we would not expect; opposition is bad. Obviously, these are not the only women's rights groups in the state, but they are the ones we have been in contact with. We hope their opinion will carry over to the other groups. "If they don't object, I guess we have no objection either" kind of thing.
And most imporantly, the 2009 Regular Session opens Tuesday, Jan. 20. If you do not already know who your representative and senator are, please go to the New Mexico Legislature site (nmlegis.gov) and find out that information. We are hoping to have oodles of people calling, faxing, emailing their legislators during the session to support this bill. If you are reading this and live in NM, get your dialing fingers ready.
If you are interested in coming to any committee meetings, keep checking back here and the NM Legislature site to see where the bill is in the process and where it is headed next. I will do my best to get meeting information out so that others might join us in the process. We would absolutely love to have some supporters with us this year! Please join us if you can.
Please remember, the legislative session is crazy. Some committees don't publish their schedules or agendas until the very last minute (like the actual day of the meeting--within hours of the actual meeting). If our bill appears at the bottom of the agenda, be prepared for the fact that it may not actually get heard that day, but be pushed to the next meeting. Then again, it might get heard that day! Some topics run long, others run short. If you are interested in attending committee meetings, please email me now so we can arrange for a more direct form of contact. halo.golden@gmail.com
Thanks for all of your support. Here we go!
A couple of things:
We are hoping to get Rep. Mimi Stewart to agree to co-sponsor the bill. She still needs to look over the final draft before making that decision. We hope to have an answer to this issue next week. We are looking for a woman who is a democrat to co-sponsor so that we can make this a non-partisan (or at least bi-partisan) bill.
We had a meeting today with Jane Wishner of the Southwest Women's Law Center and Martha Edmonds of Planned Parenthood. They have both agreed to a neutral stance on the bill in its current form. Neutral is good. Support is something we would not expect; opposition is bad. Obviously, these are not the only women's rights groups in the state, but they are the ones we have been in contact with. We hope their opinion will carry over to the other groups. "If they don't object, I guess we have no objection either" kind of thing.
And most imporantly, the 2009 Regular Session opens Tuesday, Jan. 20. If you do not already know who your representative and senator are, please go to the New Mexico Legislature site (nmlegis.gov) and find out that information. We are hoping to have oodles of people calling, faxing, emailing their legislators during the session to support this bill. If you are reading this and live in NM, get your dialing fingers ready.
If you are interested in coming to any committee meetings, keep checking back here and the NM Legislature site to see where the bill is in the process and where it is headed next. I will do my best to get meeting information out so that others might join us in the process. We would absolutely love to have some supporters with us this year! Please join us if you can.
Please remember, the legislative session is crazy. Some committees don't publish their schedules or agendas until the very last minute (like the actual day of the meeting--within hours of the actual meeting). If our bill appears at the bottom of the agenda, be prepared for the fact that it may not actually get heard that day, but be pushed to the next meeting. Then again, it might get heard that day! Some topics run long, others run short. If you are interested in attending committee meetings, please email me now so we can arrange for a more direct form of contact. halo.golden@gmail.com
Thanks for all of your support. Here we go!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
LHHS Meeting Update
Carin and I went to the LHHS committee meeting today. We were there at about 3:30 p.m. Public Comments was scheduled for 4:45 p.m. Surprisingly, the committee was right on schedule the whole time. It boggles the mind . . . government on time!
Anyway, as far as we know everything went well. Originally, we had been told we would have 5 minutes. We had our talking points; we were good at 5 minutes. There were about 11 or 12 people signed up on the list before us. When the time for public comments came, a sort of roll was called to see if those on the list were actually still there. I think quite a few of those on the list had already left. Even still we were told we'd have 2 minutes instead of 5. Yikes! They wanted to adjourn the meeting for the night and wanted everyone to be as quick as they could possibly be. Carin's fast thinking (thank you for being quick on your feet, Carin) had us now reading the handout we had prepared for the committee that consisted of just the barest facts about the bill.
We accomplished our main goal which was to get the bill into the record before the start of the coming session. And we got some verbal support for it, as well.
We also got to touch base with Rep. Gardner. He's been hard to get ahold of lately due to the usual chaos of life and an ailing family member to boot.
So as it sits, with a few minor changes to the bill and some double checking on possible issues, we are set for the coming session. We have plans to speak with Planned Parenthood and the Southwest Women's Law Center in the coming weeks. But otherwise, we should be able to relax a bit and enjoy the holidays.
Anyway, as far as we know everything went well. Originally, we had been told we would have 5 minutes. We had our talking points; we were good at 5 minutes. There were about 11 or 12 people signed up on the list before us. When the time for public comments came, a sort of roll was called to see if those on the list were actually still there. I think quite a few of those on the list had already left. Even still we were told we'd have 2 minutes instead of 5. Yikes! They wanted to adjourn the meeting for the night and wanted everyone to be as quick as they could possibly be. Carin's fast thinking (thank you for being quick on your feet, Carin) had us now reading the handout we had prepared for the committee that consisted of just the barest facts about the bill.
We accomplished our main goal which was to get the bill into the record before the start of the coming session. And we got some verbal support for it, as well.
We also got to touch base with Rep. Gardner. He's been hard to get ahold of lately due to the usual chaos of life and an ailing family member to boot.
So as it sits, with a few minor changes to the bill and some double checking on possible issues, we are set for the coming session. We have plans to speak with Planned Parenthood and the Southwest Women's Law Center in the coming weeks. But otherwise, we should be able to relax a bit and enjoy the holidays.
LHHS
Today is the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee meeting in Santa Fe. It is one of the interim committees that work through the part of the year when they are not in session.
We were hoping to get on the actual agenda, but that wasn't possible for whatever reason. So our alternative is Public Comments. Today at 4:45 p.m. we will be standing up during public comment time to talk about the MISSing Angels Bill in New Mexico and asking for the LHHS committee's endorsement for the 2009 Regular Session.
I'm nervous. Last night I was reading some of the articles that were written in 2007 after the veto. I feel like we're about to dive right back into all of that negativity, but I really need to give this meeting and this session it's own due. And reading those articles and the issues that were brought up at the time, gives me a new direction in which to look for this new bill. A chance to make sure we are not falling into the same issues this time.
So wish us luck, dry palms, and dry eyes.
We were hoping to get on the actual agenda, but that wasn't possible for whatever reason. So our alternative is Public Comments. Today at 4:45 p.m. we will be standing up during public comment time to talk about the MISSing Angels Bill in New Mexico and asking for the LHHS committee's endorsement for the 2009 Regular Session.
I'm nervous. Last night I was reading some of the articles that were written in 2007 after the veto. I feel like we're about to dive right back into all of that negativity, but I really need to give this meeting and this session it's own due. And reading those articles and the issues that were brought up at the time, gives me a new direction in which to look for this new bill. A chance to make sure we are not falling into the same issues this time.
So wish us luck, dry palms, and dry eyes.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The Congress
In case you were not aware, there is more to this movement than just New Mexico.
Sen. Barack Obama has introduced a bill in the Senate (S. 3142) called "Preventing Stillbirth and SUID Act of 2008." This bill calls for research funding for both stillbirth and sudden unexplained infant death. $5 million for stillbirth and the same for SUID. It also calls for a National Stillbirth Registry, the standardization of the definition of stillbirth, as well as, reporting and data collection. In addition, it calls for public health programs to increase awareness and education.
and . . .
Rep. Peter King has introduced a bill in the House (HR 5979) called "Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act of 2008." This bill actually mentions The MISSing Angels Bills being passed across the country. It even goes so far as to recommend that more states pass laws allowing for a Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth. It also calls for a National Stillbirth Registry and standardization of the definition of stillbirth and reporting and data collection. This bill also calls for a national public awareness campaign.
Intersestingly, of all of the sponsors and co-sponsors listed, the majority are democrats, and traditionally, democrats are the ones that take exception to this legislation as threatening abortion rights.
Isn't it nice to know that we finally have gotten some attention for this issue. We have the attention of the President-Elect. For that we owe a huge thank you to Dr. Joanna Cacciatore. Not only did she start this whole movement and the MISS Foundation, but she has been supportive of all of our efforts and the unique needs of each state.
Joanne, without you, none of this would have been possible. Thank you.
****WHAT CAN YOU DO?****
Contact your Senators and your Representative and tell them that you support these two bills. Tell them your story. Tell them that it is important to you and your family that these bills get passed. Tell them that it matters.
(You can find the text of each of the federal bills in the Legislation Links section of this blog.)
Sen. Barack Obama has introduced a bill in the Senate (S. 3142) called "Preventing Stillbirth and SUID Act of 2008." This bill calls for research funding for both stillbirth and sudden unexplained infant death. $5 million for stillbirth and the same for SUID. It also calls for a National Stillbirth Registry, the standardization of the definition of stillbirth, as well as, reporting and data collection. In addition, it calls for public health programs to increase awareness and education.
and . . .
Rep. Peter King has introduced a bill in the House (HR 5979) called "Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act of 2008." This bill actually mentions The MISSing Angels Bills being passed across the country. It even goes so far as to recommend that more states pass laws allowing for a Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth. It also calls for a National Stillbirth Registry and standardization of the definition of stillbirth and reporting and data collection. This bill also calls for a national public awareness campaign.
Intersestingly, of all of the sponsors and co-sponsors listed, the majority are democrats, and traditionally, democrats are the ones that take exception to this legislation as threatening abortion rights.
Isn't it nice to know that we finally have gotten some attention for this issue. We have the attention of the President-Elect. For that we owe a huge thank you to Dr. Joanna Cacciatore. Not only did she start this whole movement and the MISS Foundation, but she has been supportive of all of our efforts and the unique needs of each state.
Joanne, without you, none of this would have been possible. Thank you.
****WHAT CAN YOU DO?****
Contact your Senators and your Representative and tell them that you support these two bills. Tell them your story. Tell them that it is important to you and your family that these bills get passed. Tell them that it matters.
(You can find the text of each of the federal bills in the Legislation Links section of this blog.)
Upcoming committee meeting
The next meeting of the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee is December 3-5 in Santa Fe in Room 307 of the State Capitol.
Currently (as of today) we have a revised draft of the bill and are trying to get some time on the agenda for this upcoming meeting. If we cannot get time on the agenda, we are planning to bring it up during the Public Comments section of the meeting. Public comments are held at the end of each day of the meetings.
If Senator Dede Feldman is your senator, please contact her and ask that we be added to the committee agenda.
Currently (as of today) we have a revised draft of the bill and are trying to get some time on the agenda for this upcoming meeting. If we cannot get time on the agenda, we are planning to bring it up during the Public Comments section of the meeting. Public comments are held at the end of each day of the meetings.
If Senator Dede Feldman is your senator, please contact her and ask that we be added to the committee agenda.
Friday, November 14, 2008
One change
Probably the biggest change we are making between the 2007 legislation and the 2009 legislation is what is defined as a still birth in New Mexico.
Currently, fetal deaths are required to be reported to the state only if the fetus weighs more than 500 grams. If you look at a growth chart for fetuses, an average 500 gram fetus is somewhere between 23 and 24 weeks gestation.
To our knowledge New Mexico is the only state in the nation to use 500 grams as the requirement for a stillbirth. The CDC recommends 20 weeks gestation or 350 grams if the gestational age is not known.
By adopting the CDC recommendation, we are changing our state's basic definition of a stillbirth. There is a bill in the Congress to adopt the CDC recommendation nationally, thereby standardizing what our country considers a stillbirth.
In addition, by using the CDC recommendation we are closing what appears to be a statistical gap. How could it be that New Mexico has a higher than average birth rate, but a lower than average stillbirth rate? Prenatal care here is not *that* great. Simple, we aren't counting all of the stillbirths that occur here. Some of them are being classified as miscarriages instead.
Making this change is a good thing. Having accurate, consistently reported numbers will help researchers find out why so many babies are dying before birth and will then help us prevent more losses and more families who have to suffer this pain.
Currently, fetal deaths are required to be reported to the state only if the fetus weighs more than 500 grams. If you look at a growth chart for fetuses, an average 500 gram fetus is somewhere between 23 and 24 weeks gestation.
To our knowledge New Mexico is the only state in the nation to use 500 grams as the requirement for a stillbirth. The CDC recommends 20 weeks gestation or 350 grams if the gestational age is not known.
By adopting the CDC recommendation, we are changing our state's basic definition of a stillbirth. There is a bill in the Congress to adopt the CDC recommendation nationally, thereby standardizing what our country considers a stillbirth.
In addition, by using the CDC recommendation we are closing what appears to be a statistical gap. How could it be that New Mexico has a higher than average birth rate, but a lower than average stillbirth rate? Prenatal care here is not *that* great. Simple, we aren't counting all of the stillbirths that occur here. Some of them are being classified as miscarriages instead.
Making this change is a good thing. Having accurate, consistently reported numbers will help researchers find out why so many babies are dying before birth and will then help us prevent more losses and more families who have to suffer this pain.
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