A proposal in the Iowa House would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to make a list of hospice providers for pregnant people whose fetus may die before birth or infant dies shortly after birth. The list would include providers in Iowa and across the country.
The bill also says a practitioner who diagnoses a lethal fetal anomaly may inform the pregnant woman that perinatal hospice services are available and offer to make a referral.
Shaylene Ballentine of Ankeny supports the bill. She says she received perinatal services after a doctor recommended terminating her pregnancy. Ballentine says the four days she had with her daughter were a “gift.”
“No parent should have to look back with regret on a decision they made without having all available options presented to them. Yet, too many families are left in the dark, pressured towards one path without knowing there are others.”
Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, says she supports the concept but wants some of the bill to be reworded with medically-accurate language.
The bill heads to the House Health and Human Services committee next.