PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jul 14, 2009
Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education, and Awareness Act of 2009 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to award grants for: (1) improving state comprehensive death scene investigations for sudden unexplained infant death (SUID) and sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC); and (2) increasing the rate of comprehensive and standardized autopsies for such deaths.
Requires the Director to: (1) develop national guidelines for a standard autopsy protocol for such deaths; and (2) commission a study on the benefits and appropriateness of genetic testing for infant and early childhood deaths that remain unexplained after investigation and autopsy.
Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director, to: (1) award grants for death scene investigation training; (2) establish a population-based case registry for SUID and SUDC deaths; (3) conduct a needs assessment for investigations and determinations of such deaths; and (4) develop public education and prevention programs to reduce stillbirths and address the racial and ethnic disparities in occurrence.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Directs the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to: (1) award grants for death review programs and prevention strategies; (2) establish a public health awareness and education campaign on SUID and SUDC; and (3) award grants for support services to families who have experienced SUID, SUDC, or stillbirth.
Provides for surveillance and data collection on stillbirths.
Requires the Secretary to establish a task force to develop a national research plan to determine the causes of, and how to prevent, stillbirths.
People & committees
Sen. Lautenberg, Frank R. [D-NJ] · D–NJ
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1445 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1445 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1445 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1445 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.