Senate Health Committee holds first hearing on bill to designate Sept. 19 as Ohio Stillbirth Prevention Day

The Ohio Senate Health Committee held a first hearing on House Bill 4, a measure to enact Section 5.2471 of the Ohio Revised Code to designate Sept. 19 as Ohio Stillbirth Prevention Day. Sponsors and proponents told the committee the awareness day is intended to target existing health-care resources to pregnant people most at risk and to elevate public attention on racial and socioeconomic disparities in stillbirth.

Representative Holmes introduced the bill to the committee and said the House previously approved the measure. Holmes told the committee the day would “help target existing health care resources to those that are most in need, pregnant mothers and especially those with low income or limited access to health care,” and said the state must address higher stillbirth and infant mortality rates among Black mothers and babies. Holmes also said proponent testimony would include Pastor Bullock and his daughter, Jennifer Bullock, a Channel 4 News anchor, who have personal experience with stillbirth.

Sponsor Rick Thomas provided testimony urging the state to make a long-term commitment to stillbirth prevention. Thomas told the committee the bill would add Section 5.2471 to the Ohio Revised Code and said national recognition of a Stillbirth Prevention Day began in 2022. Thomas also attributed to a study and advocates that “nearly one third” of stillbirths are preventable and said Ohio should ensure accessible resources and support for grieving families. In his testimony Thomas quoted an Ohio mother, Jasmine Abrams: “Everything in me just wanted him to breathe. In that moment, when they put him on my chest, everything in me just wanted him to breathe.”

Committee members did not take a vote on the bill during the hearing. Sponsors said they intend to continue working to move the measure through the General Assembly.

The hearing included multiple statistics and figures presented by different speakers. Representative Holmes said, in his remarks to the committee, that “In Ohio, in 2021 … 760 babies were lost to stillbirth” and that Ohio averaged “about 6.2 fetal deaths per thousand live births,” and he said Black mothers accounted for 30% of stillbirth reports while representing about 13% of the state population. Rick Thomas told the committee that “In Ohio, there are an average of 883 stillbirths each year” and that research shows “nearly 1 third of them are preventable.” Where figures appeared to differ, they are presented here as attributed statements to the speakers who provided them during the hearing.

No formal action was recorded on the bill in the excerpted hearing; the committee closed the first hearing after sponsor testimony and proponent announcements.