Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate on Thursday killed a bill that would have allowed the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to survey new mothers with the aim of reducing the state's infant mortality rate.

Senate Bill 448 would have allowed KDHE to use information from birth certificates to contact new mothers to learn more about their pregnancies and their newborn babies. Current law specifically prohibits KDHE from using information from birth certificates to follow up with new mothers.

Public health officials have said that creates a barrier to better understanding of the state’s high infant mortality rate, which is 20 percent higher than the national average.

The bill seemed headed for approval before it was amended during floor debate by Sen. Mary Pilcher Cook, R-Shawnee. She tried but failed to get the same amendment attached to the bill when it was in committee.

The amendment would have changed some of the definitions in the bill and would have allowed special stillborn certificates to be issued for some pregnancies not carried to term. Pilcher Cook is an abortion opponent and many pro-choice senators suspected her amendment might have broader implications. Other senators who opposed it said it would muddle the bill's original intent.

The amendment was approved on a roll call vote and the bill gained preliminary approval but on final action later in the day, the Senate voted 20-18 to reject it.

The bill is the product of the state’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Infant Mortality, which was convened to study the state’s high infant mortality rate. Gathering more data through a statewide survey of mothers, the panel concluded, would provide community-level information about factors, such as access to health care, that can influence prenatal and infant health.

The bill's passage into law would make the state eligible for federal funding to conduct a survey, which also would allowed comparison to findings in other states.

Suzanne Wikle, director of health policy for Kansas Action for Children, a supporter of the bill, said the organization was disappointed that the bill was not approved in its original form.

"The original language of this bill is critically important to addressing the high infant mortality rate in Kansas," Wikle said. "It's very unfortunate that a controversial amendment killed sound policy to address infant mortality."