A US senator has introduced legislation requiring hospitals and freestanding birth centres to inform parents of their rights to arrange burial or cremation following a miscarriage or stillbirth.
Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas and a former obstetrician-gynaecologist, introduced the Bereaved Parents Rights Act on May 13. Representative Kat Cammack, a Republican from Florida, has introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
The proposed law would amend Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require hospitals and freestanding birth centres to notify parents of their options after pregnancy loss. According to Senator Marshall’s office, parents would have to be informed no later than six hours after the miscarriage or stillbirth, or before discharge, whichever came first.
