State senators have advanced LB 1040, a bill to create a commemorative birth certificate for families that experience a miscarriage before 20 weeks gestation that includes the child’s name and gender, if known. This bill is the second of it’s kind in the nation, and the first that does not place a minimum gestation to qualify for the certificate.
LB 1040 was introduced and prioritized by Senator Joni Albrecht of District 17. In 2017, Senator Albrecht introduced and prioritized the NFA-supported Compassion and Care for Medically Challenging Pregnancies Act, which increased awareness of perinatal hospice care.
Creating an optional, commemorative, state-issued birth certificate for miscarriages is a small, compassionate change to the law. Currently, Nebraska offers birth certificates for stillbirths that occur at or after 20 weeks gestation.
It is estimated that one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage before 20 weeks gestation. The grief families feel following this loss is real. This certificate will honor and validate their loss.
In a recent article titled, “How A Culture of Life Offers Comfort To The Grieving,” NFA’s Communication Director Hallie Hamilton stated something that bears repeating:
The women who experience [miscarriage] know that they didn’t pass a ‘parasite,’ have a vestigial organ removed, or lose something as inconsequential as a tooth. They lost a child.
Thankfully, the pro-life movement offers women and families hope. Instead of wrestling alone with grief in the midst of a culture that embraces euphemisms that dismiss life inside the womb as nothing more than a blob of tissue, a pro-life culture offers comfort and understanding.
During the hearing before the General Affairs committee, Jennifer Sommer, founder and director of HEALing Embrace, shared her heart-wrenching story. She began her testimony quoting the children’s rhyme, “First comes love, then comes marriage,” but instead of a baby in a baby carriage, they had miscarriage after miscarriage. “My babies never needed carriages; they only needed caskets,” she said.
Creating a culture of life means honoring the little lives lost in miscarriage, as well as the families who grieve. Nebraska Family Alliance is proud to support LB 1040.
If LB 1040 becomes law in Nebraska and a family wants a certificate following a miscarriage, they can notify their doctor. The doctor would provide a brief letter or sign a form created by the Department of Health and Human Services that the family would submit to the Department verifying the pregnancy. The Department would then provide the certificate within 60 days at only the cost of producing the document.
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