For a non-profit founded by five mothers who turned personal tragedy into a national movement, the stakes of advocacy go beyond legislative wins. They are about human lives. Healthy Birth Day, Inc., the organization behind the Count the Kicks campaign, operates with the mission: to prevent stillbirth through health literacy and systemic change.
When the organization identified a critical gap in federal funding language, they needed to take action by educating legislators and having supporters advocate for this change. By leveraging VoterVoice, Healthy Birth Day, Inc. empowered a grassroots network to take action on influencing policy, ultimately leading to the passage of the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act.
The Challenge: Change a Federal Language “Technicality” to Open Funding for State Health Programs
In the United States, stillbirth remains a public health crisis that is often shrouded in stigma and misinformation.
“When our founders lost their babies, they were told having a stillbirth is as rare as getting struck by lightning,” says Jenifer Rowray, Director of Advocacy & Engagement at Healthy Birth Day, Inc.
“But it’s not. We lose nearly 21,000 babies a year. That’s one in every 185 pregnancies”.
Despite what the data showed, a significant barrier existed at the federal level within the Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant. As the largest federal funding mechanism for state health programs, Title V is the “bucket of money” that states use to fund public health campaigns.
However, because the word “stillbirth” was not explicitly listed in the legislative language, many state health departments were unsure if they could legally use those funds for prevention work.
To get the necessary change to the language, Healthy Birth Day, Inc. needed to:
- Educate Congress: Many lawmakers believed stillbirth was unpreventable or rare.
- Clarify Legislation: They required a “technical fix” to the Social Security Act of 1935 to include stillbirth in Title V language.
- Mobilize at Scale: As a small, Iowa-based non-profit with a “two-woman show” advocacy department, they needed to run a campaign that would reach offices on Capitol Hill that was more than just statistics, but included real stories.
The Solution: Advocacy that Humanizes Data
Healthy Birth Day, Inc. turned to VoterVoice to transform their network of highly trained volunteers—many of whom are loss parents, nurses, and doulas—into an elite advocacy corps
Connecting Advocates to the Room where it Happens
Policy change requires getting the right voice in front of the right staffer at the right time. Healthy Birth Day used the platform to identify key legislative staff and tie individual advocates directly to their lawmakers’ offices.
“Virtual and in-person meetings are still the most powerful tool,” Rowray notes.
VoterVoice provided the data-driven infrastructure to “connect the dots” that Rowray previously would have had to find manually through generic “info@” email addresses. This allowed for direct, personal outreach that made the data come to life.
Empowering the “Boots on the Ground”
Count the Kicks Ambassadors, high-level and trained volunteers, were leaders in mobilizing action within their communities. Whether it was sending personalized messages or coordinating with Rowray to reach out to specific offices, the platform’s ease of use was critical for a busy volunteer base to take quick, impactful action.
Bipartisan Storytelling
By focusing on the universal value of maternal and infant health, Healthy Birth Day, Inc. used VoterVoice to keep their messaging insulated from partisan friction. They focused on the “preventability” of stillbirth, including research that indicates 25 percent of cases in the U.S. are preventable, to create a compelling, bipartisan call to action.
The Result: From Bill to Bill-Signing
The culmination of this effort was a landmark victory. In 2024, the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act was signed into law by President Biden. It was one of the few pieces of legislation to successfully navigate the 118th Congress.
The impact of this victory includes:
- Legislative Clarity: Stillbirth is now explicitly listed in Title V, removing the “question mark” for state health departments and allowing them to fund prevention programs like Count the Kicks.
- A Federal Call to Action: In addition to legislative clarity, the law became a direct call to action from federal lawmakers to state health departments to deploy those funds and address the stillbirth crisis.
- A Growing Movement: Using the platform helped Healthy Birth Day, Inc. build its database, bringing more voices into the cause to combat the stigma surrounding stillbirth.
- National Awareness: The advocacy momentum led to Senator Chuck Grassley speaking about stillbirth on the Senate floor, bringing the issue to a global audience via C-SPAN.
“If we can use it and make change, you can use it and make change too. It’s user-friendly, there’s great support… and our advocates had positive reviews on their experience with the platform as well.” — Jenifer Rowray, Director of Advocacy & Engagement, Healthy Birth Day, Inc.
Looking Ahead: Making Policy Practice
The work doesn’t stop with a signature on a bill. Healthy Birth Day, Inc. is now focused on the “implementation” phase, ensuring that the new law actually changes medical practice on the ground.
Their 2026 roadmap includes:
- The SHINE for Autumn Act: Supporting legislation to improve stillbirth data collection and research.
- State-Level Action: Empowering advocates in states like Maryland to fight for stillbirth tax credits and registries.
- Direct Accountability: Using VoterVoice to ask lawmakers and state health departments: “This is now policy; why isn’t it yet practice in your state?”
Through a combination of relentless storytelling and the right advocacy technology, Healthy Birth Day, Inc. is proving that even the smallest organizations can make “technical fix” changes, with real-life-saving consequences, at the federal level.
