National
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day occurs within Pregnancy and Infant
Loss Awareness Month which began with a proclamation issued by President Reagan
in 1988.
“On
October 25, 1988, President Reagan designated the entire month of October 1988
as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. On that day he said:
‘When a child
loses his parent, they are called an orphan. When a spouse loses her or his
partner, they are called a widow or widower. When parents lose their child,
there isn’t a word to describe them. This month recognizes the loss so many
parents experience across the United States and around the world. It is also
meant to inform and provide resources for parents who have lost children due to
miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, stillbirths, birth defects,
SIDS, and other causes.
Now,
therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do
hereby proclaim the month of October as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness
Month. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
In
2002, Robyn Bear, Lisa Brown and Tammy Novak petitioned the federal government to
proclaim October 15 Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Today, all 50
states have a yearly proclamation in honor of those who have lost a child
during pregnancy or during infancy.’” [Source: National Day
Calendar]
In observance of
this remembrance day and the month of October, designated as National Pregnancy
and Infant Loss Awareness Month and dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, a reader
and bereaved mother is sharing and inviting other Rorate Caeli readers and all
parents touched by pregnancy loss to observe this day and month by honoring
their children, free of charge, in A Mom’s Peace virtual Garden of
Remembrance, dedicated to Our Lady.
The
short lives of these beloved children, who, from the moment of conception, brought
joy to their families, are too precious to forget. May family members, in honoring the memory of
these precious children in The Garden, and uniting their grief to Our Lady’s sorrows, find peace
and consolation.
Also,
today, as the Catholic Church commemorates the feast day of St. Teresa of
Avila, we find words of comfort from the great mystic and doctor of the Church,
“We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to
bear the greatest trials.”
