Stillbirth is still birth. “A woman who has a stillborn child still goes through the trauma of labor and birth, and this is compounded by the loss of a child,” wrote Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson in her April 2023 Black Maternal Health Week letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

 

But right now, our Bronx representative and speaker of the New York State Assembly, Carl Heastie, seems to think it’s okay for New York to revoke a mother’s right to previously-approved paid leave and tell her to “get back to work” only days after birthing and then burying a child.

 

As a doula, stillbirth grandmother and brain-spotting practitioner, I’ve seen first-hand the devastating effects that the trauma of a stillbirth inflicts on a woman’s body, mind, and soul. I’ve seen even women who have had beautiful and healthy, live births succumb to life-threatening postpartum complications in the days and weeks after delivering their children. Stillbirth moms are five times as likely to experience this trauma compared to other mothers.

 

It is nothing short of unthinkable that anyone in New York State would expect mothers who have just delivered a baby and have then returned home knowing they will never again hold that baby in their arms, to do anything other than try to survive and heal.

 

It’s even more unthinkable that a solution to this dangerous and cruel loophole in New York’s supposedly nation-leading Paid Family Leave program has been sitting on Speaker Heastie’s desk for weeks and he’s done nothing to move it forward – even though it already passed with 100 percent approval in the senate, and is cosponsored by two-thirds of assembly members.

 

What are we waiting for, Speaker Heastie, a Bronx mother to follow her baby into the grave? Do the right thing and bring A2880 to a vote now – before time runs out on this year’s legislative session this week. Anything less is an affront to mothers and families across New York state. Thank you.

 

Yuvelca Reyes is the Bronx ambassador for Count the Kicks Stillbirth Prevention Program

Editor’s Note: According to online State senate records, Bill A2880 is still at committee level. We raised this point with Reyes who said her organization was in direct touch with assembly leadership about it. She alleges Speaker Heastie has the power to bring the bill to a vote and that 22 out of the 28 Labor Committee members are co-sponsors and have been for months, but that the labor committee chair, Assembly Member Latoya Joyner (A.D. 77), has allegedly refused to bring the bill to a vote as well.

Norwood News has reached out to the offices of both Heastie and Joyner for comment and will update this op-ed should we receive a response.