PRINTER'S NO. 2784
No. 459 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY MAHER, OCTOBER 17, 2005
To Calendar under Rule 35-Uncontested Calendar October 17, 2005
A RESOLUTION
1 Proclaiming October 2005 as "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness
2 Month" in Pennsylvania.
3 WHEREAS, Each year, approximately a million pregnancies in
4 the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth or the death of
5 the newborn child; and
6 WHEREAS, Observance of "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness
7 Month" offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding
8 of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn and
9 newborn babies; and
10 WHEREAS, It also enables us to consider how, as individuals
11 and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and
12 family members through work to prevent causes of these problems;
13 and
14 WHEREAS, Health care professionals recognize that trends of
15 recent years, such as smaller family size and postponement of
16 childbearing, add further poignancy to the grief of parents who
17 have lost infants; and
1 WHEREAS, More than 700 international, national and local
2 support groups are supplying programs and strategies designed to
3 help parents cope with their loss; and
4 WHEREAS, Parents who have suffered their own losses, health
5 care professionals and specially trained hospital staff members
6 are helping newly bereaved parents deal constructively with
7 loss; and
8 WHEREAS, A Pennsylvania-based organization, the Angel Teddy
9 Bear Foundation, provides teddy bears to hospitals, which the
10 hospitals give to parents of stillborn and neonatal loss babies
11 and to parents of babies lost through miscarriage; and
12 WHEREAS, October is "National Pregnancy and Infant Loss
13 Awareness Month," and October 15th is considered the national
14 day of awareness; therefore be it
15 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives proclaim October
16 2005 as "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month" in
17 Pennsylvania.
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