October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
Ronald Regan made it official 1988 with the following proclaimation:
Each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the U.S. end in miscarriage, stillbirth or the death of the newborn child. National observance of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn and newborn babies. It also enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members on work to prevent causes of these problems.
Health care professionals recognize that trends of recent years, such as smaller family size and postponement of childbearing, adds another dimension of poignancy to the grief of parents who have lost infants. More than 700 local, national and international support groups are supplying programs and strategies designed to help parents cope with their loss. Parents who have suffered their own losses, health care professionals and specially trained hospital staff members are helping newly bereaved parents deal constructively with loss...
The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 314, has designated the month of October, as "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this month.
NOW, THEREFORE, I RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the month of October as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of October in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.
Ronald Reagan
Former President
United States of America
And each state governor has been petitioned to make October 15th the
official day of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness. The following website
offers state proclamation updates and can tell you if your governor has
heard you or not:
www.pregnancyandinfantloss.org
Each of the following websites offer information and opinions about why this awareness is so important. Some offer ribbon banners that you can add to your own site to raise awareness. And if you dig deeper into each of the following, you'll find that the creators of the sites are themselves bereaved parents who have personal missions for raising this awareness.
http://www.angels4ever.com/awareness.html
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/cessnamama/why.html
http://www.crosswinds.net/~hellogoodbye/raisingawareness.htm
http://www.dreamwork-designs.com/ourpage/loss.htm
If you are a bereaved parent yourself, chances are you have encountered at least one friend or family member who has tried to tell you to "get over it" in one way or another. It is rare for people who haven't suffered the effects of this kind of sudden death to understand that your world is different forever. They often don't understand why you aren't over it. They don't understand why you are still affected/effected by it years later. The events happening around Pregnancy and Infant Loss month and day are resources for you to find renewal, to look into the eyes of folks who understand your commitment to this awareness, to find support you might not be getting from family of origin or friends. Check it out. Participate if you can. Do whatever you need to do.
Author Biography
Kara L.C. Jones is a founder of KotaPress and a grieving mother who lost
her first born son on March 11, 1999 at 4:47 p.m. She works toward healing
by doing her own writing and offering poetry therapy consults to other
bereaved parents. If you wish to contact her, please send email to editor@kotapress.com
