Bill on stillborn babies passes Iowa House

A legislator who delivered a stillborn baby last summer was tearful as she praised a bill that passed the Iowa House yesterday — a bill that creates a state task force that will study stillbirths and birth defects. Representative Janet Peterson, a democrat from Des Moines, spoke on behalf of herself and other mothers who discovered their umbilical cord had wrapped around the child in their womb. Peterson says she and many other women have lost “beautiful babies in their arms that they had to say goodbye to before they could say hello.” Peterson says Wellmark alone had 2,800 claims in Iowa last year of babies with umbilical cord issues. Some of those babies lived and have development disabilities. Peterson says she’s “so thankful that Iowa will be one of the first states to collect the research information needed” by a doctor who is studying the issue. She hopes it “will help save babies’ lives.”Peterson says she also hopes the bill will be a tribute to her daughter and the daughters of two friends who also lost their babies because of problems with the umbilical cord. The bill passed the House on a 98-0 vote.