WHY THIS MATTERS
Most U.S. stillbirths are preventable. Our system isn't built to prevent them.
The United States has roughly twice the stillbirth rate of other high-income countries — a gap that persists not only for the lack of answers, but also because the US doesn’t apply the answers it already has. We are committed to bringing proven solutions from around the world home, to reduce stillbirths in the United States.
- Stillbirth affects families of all backgrounds, even healthy people in low-risk pregnancies who are receiving proper prenatal care.
- In fact, 80% of stillbirth mothers had zero risk factors at the beginning of their pregnancy. There is no “safe zone” in pregnancy, and no pregnancy is immune from stillbirth. (more info)
- But like maternal mortality, Black women are twice as likely to suffer a stillbirth compared to all other races of women. (more info)
- Severe maternal complications are almost 5 times as likely in mothers experiencing a stillbirth. (more info)
Mothers are unsure of what to ask or how to advocate for themselves. Clinicians lack a standardized protocol. Insurance refuses to cover the very appointments and scans that prevent recurrence. And families pay the cost.
The Natalie Foundation exists to change the clinical posture of an entire field. We deploy specialized Pregnancy After Loss (PAL) clinics that follow a proven, data-driven medical model. We fund important research into the root causes of stillbirth.
We are chasing every heartbeat so no more families have to endure what we did.
THE NUMBERS
The U.S. stillbirth crisis, in four data points.
1 in 147
U.S. pregnancies end in stillbirth — higher than previously reported.
Harvard University, 2023
2x
Black women are 2x as likely to suffer a stillbirth compared to all other races of women.
Comparative international perinatal data
5x
The increased risk of recurrent stillbirth for mothers who have already lost a baby.
Peer-reviewed clinical literature
47%
Of term stillbirths (37+ weeks) that are preventable today with proper clinical surveillance.
Stillbirth preventability research
WHAT WE BUILT
A proven approach that is already saving lives.
Founder Fernanda Sheridan architected the U.S. Pregnancy After Loss clinical blueprint alongside leading Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists. Today, the model is active at Mount Sinai, Columbia University, the University of Utah, Yale New Haven, UCLA, UCSF, Virtual Health in NJ, and Penn State — and scaling through the USPAL Network.
Clinical Care
Specialized PAL clinics deliver frequent appointments, additional time at the appointments, extra sonography, placental profiling, cord monitoring, and early antepartum admissions actively reducing the physical risks and incorporating mental health screening into every visit.
Research
Each Pregnancy After Loss clinic or Rainbow clinic will share their data to fuel national research on care for pregnancy after loss.
We can’t reduce stillbirth if we don’t know what causes it. The majority of stillbirths happen due to placental issues. The placenta remains one of the most understudied organs in the body, closing that knowledge gap is critical to answering for nearly half of all unexplained stillbirths in the United States. We fund placenta research and are helping develop a solution to bring more perinatal pathologists to the field, so more families have the answers they deserve and closing the knowledge gap behind nearly half of all unexplained stillbirths in the United States.
PARTNERSHIPS
Built with the country's
Leading academic health systems.
The Natalie Foundation works directly with the maternal-fetal medicine specialists, perinatal pathologists, and research institutions who define standards of care in the United States. Our PAL clinical model was developed alongside, and is in active use at, the following partners.
LATEST
News from the foundation
JOIN US
Support funding clinics and reaching more families. This work will support our goal of saving at least 5,000 babies a year.
Whether you’re a donor, a clinician, a policymaker, or a mother navigating pregnancy after loss — there’s a way to move this forward with us.