The Trump administration's cuts to the Safe to Sleep campaign, which aimed to prevent sudden unexpected infant deaths, are deeply concerning. This decades-long public health initiative led by the National Institutes of Health provided critical resources and awareness about safe sleep practices for infants, such as encouraging parents to place babies on their backs on a firm surface. Its defunding comes at a time when rates of SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths have been rising for the first time in years, after years of decline due to Safe to Sleep's efforts. Discontinuing this program will have devastating consequences, as experts warn that more babies will die without the coordinated messaging and free educational materials that Safe to Sleep provided to healthcare providers, clinics, and communities across the country. The impacts will likely be felt most acutely among families on public insurance and communities of color, who already experience disproportionately higher rates of sudden unexpected infant death. Gutting this life-saving campaign is antithetical to claims of being "pro-life." If we truly value protecting the most vulnerable lives, ongoing federal leadership and funding for programs like Safe to Sleep must be restored immediately. Allowing this public health crisis to worsen due to an ill-advised partisan agenda would be unconscionable. We have a moral imperative to prioritize evidence-based policies that keep infants safe and prevent unnecessary tragedies.
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