Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Birth certificates could be issued for stillborns
Associated Press
Published February 23, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Eight months into her pregnancy, Beth Logullo's baby stopped moving. Two days later, the girl was stillborn.
"I call her an angel baby because she was born perfect and sleeping," said Daryl Logullo, Beth's husband.
They named her Katherine. She was wrapped, weighed and footprinted, and the remains were cremated. But when Daryl Logullo requested a birth certificate, he learned there would be none.
On Wednesday, the House Health Care Committee unanimously approved the "missing angels" bill (House Bill 439) to create birth certificates for pregnancies that last 20 weeks and end in the natural delivery of stillborn infants. Last week, a Senate committee approved a similar Senate Bill 746.
Thirteen states have passed similar laws in the last five years, but such bills have been unsuccessful in Florida previously. This one has a long road ahead in further hearings. But its sponsor, Rep. Juan-Carlos Planas, R-Miami, said it is important.
"This bill corrects what is probably an injustice for a lot of people who feel they have lost a child," he said.
[Last modified February 23, 2006, 01:08:11]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
