A new state law just passed in North Dakota will help to ensure that North Dakota families have an easier time learning about their cord blood banking options during pregnancy.

When North Dakota residents Sarah and Ben were expecting their first child, they received a brochure on cord blood banking along with a big bag of other brochures and samples related to pregnancy. Because they had no further discussions with their doctor and there was no other educational material provided, Sarah, who is a cardiology nurse, didn’t look into family banking. 

Once their daughter was born, however, the couple quickly found themselves working to help their daughter cope with issues they never expected.  Sarah and Ben didn’t know that they were both carriers of Usher’s Syndrome, a condition characterized by hearing loss or deafness and progressive vision loss.  

Though cord blood stem cells are not used to treat Usher’s syndrome, they are being studied to improve vision in laboratory animals. Sarah’s daughter can hear and speak thanks to cochlear implants and speech therapy.  She is, however, losing her eyesight.  

“When we became pregnant with our second child, we researched advancements in stem cell therapies and decided to bank our son’s cord blood,” said Sarah. “We are ardent believers that parents have to be strong advocates for their children’s health and are so glad that families in North Dakota will now be better educated about their cord blood options. Hopefully this new law will help increase awareness not just among expectant parents, but also those in the medical profession who aren’t aware of the capabilities of these cells and the promising research underway.”

The new legislation in North Dakota:

• Encourages prenatal care providers to educate expectant parents about their cord blood banking options so that they can make an informed decision about whether to privately bank their child’s cord blood stem cells or donate them to a public bank.
• Requires the state’s Department of Health to make available to the public an educational pamphlet about cord blood stem cells and parents’ options for preserving them.
  

Now a total of 21 states – representing 68% of child births in the U.S.– have legislation in place endorsing education on cord blood stem cells and the private and public cord blood banking options available to parents.