Proclamation 6290—Infant Mortality Awareness Day, 1991

In the past, this Nation's high rate of infant mortality has stood in tragic contradiction to our enviably high standard of living and to our traditional reverence for human life. Fortunately, however, that unconscionable trend is changing. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, preliminary data indicate that the United States infant mortality rate in 1990 was 9.1 deaths per 1,000 live births -- the lowest ever recorded and a substantial reduction over the past decade.

The infant mortality rate is affected by a number of different factors, including the failure of many pregnant women to obtain adequate prenatal care. Although the government cannot fulfill the primary responsibility of parents in caring for their children, public officials at the Federal, State, and local levels have been working together with health care providers ands other concerned Americans to help expectant mothers protect the lives of their unborn children through proper nutrition and prenatal care.

Advances in science and technology have enabled us to see how such behaviors as substance abuse and smoking can lead to low birth weights, disability, chronic illness, and early susceptibility to death among infants. Advances in science have also enabled us to save the lives of babies who are born prematurely or who develop dangerous conditions while still in the womb. In an effort to bring this information to pregnant women and to cut existing rates of infant mortality by half in 10 high-risk areas within 5 years, we have launched a national campaign against infant mortality. This includes the "Healthy Start" program, a pilot project that will bring early prenatal care to thousands of low-income mothers while helping to identify which government programs work best.

Each and every human life is precious, and every one deserves care and protection. On this occasion let us renew our determination to ensure that every child in America receives the best possible start in life, beginning with quality prenatal care throughout pregnancy for expectant mothers.

The Congress, by House Joint Resolution 194, has designated May 12, 1991, as "Infant Mortality Awareness Day" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this day.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 12, 1991, as Infant Mortality Awareness Day. I urge all Americans to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-one, and of the Independence of the United States of American the two hundred and fifteenth.

GEORGE BUSH