Today, Family Research Council (FRC), together with Dr. Michael New, Assistant Professor of Social Research at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America, released the first phase results of a study of 11 perinatal hospice programs surveying 82 mothers who participated in these programs.

The study found that perinatal hospices offered a range of valuable resources to women. These included counseling, sonograms, prayer, support groups, and a birth plan. High percentages of women found each of these services "very helpful." Overall, women expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the care they received from perinatal hospices with 83 percent of women reporting the level of emotional support from the perinatal hospice as "very supportive" and 79 percent of women unable to note anything from the program that was not helpful in the grieving process.

Importantly, 55 percent of mothers in the study reported that when doctors informed them about their child's diagnosis, the physician's recommendation was to end the baby's life. Sadly, only 19 percent received information about perinatal hospice when they were given this recommendation.

Yet, after receiving perinatal hospice services, 86 percent of women reported they were "very much" confident in their decision to carry to birth, and zero women reported they were "not at all confident."