Congress funds stillbirth research and data collection to improve maternal health outcomes.

What it does

This bill authorizes $5 million per year (2026–2030) for states to conduct surveillance, collect data, and study stillbirths using existing datasets and new reporting; and $1 million per year for the federal government to issue standardized guidelines and develop public educational materials on stillbirth risk factors. All data must be deidentified and comply with privacy law. The bill requires HHS to publish a public report on stillbirth guidelines within five years.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: federal grants to states for stillbirth surveillance and data collection, plus HHS guidelines and educational materials. It is a standard public health research authorization with no deregulation, liability shields, or private carve-outs.

What the text implies

• Standardized stillbirth data collection may reveal disparities in stillbirth rates across racial, socioeconomic, or geographic groups, potentially creating pressure for targeted interventions or policy changes.
• Privacy-protected data aggregation could enable epidemiological research linking stillbirth to environmental, occupational, or clinical factors, with implications for workplace safety, product liability, or clinical practice standards.
• Public educational materials on stillbirth risk factors may shift cultural and medical norms around pregnancy loss disclosure and bereavement support, affecting how families and providers respond to stillbirths.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill funds public health research and data collection on a significant but understudied cause of pregnancy loss, with strict privacy protections. It improves standardization and awareness, helping families and clinicians understand risk factors and potentially reduce stillbirth rates—a direct public health benefit with no apparent private carve-outs or restrictions on citizen rights.

Who stands to gain

• state health departments
• vital statistics units
• public health research institutions
• maternal-fetal medicine and obstetric professional associations

Named in the bill

HHS (Department of Health and Human Services), State departments of health, State and local vital statistics units, Fetal and Infant Mortality Review programs, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Pediatrics, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, nurse midwives, stillbirth advocacy organizations

Where it stands

41 cosponsors: 21 Republicans, 19 Democrats, 1 Independents.

• Sep 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Sep 18, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

3 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $404,046 in lobbying spend. A filing names 13 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.

Cory Booker, the sponsor, reported $496,300 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Nemours Foundation - a Florida Not-for-profit Corporation — $250,000 on 2 filings
• March of Dimes — $120,000 on 2 filings
• Americans for the Arts — $34,046 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.