Wrenching politics surround stillborns
Bereft moms want birth papers, but abortion complicates issue
Ilene Lelchuk, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Cherie Golant has three photos of her daughter Julia at birth. She has a lock of Julia's newborn hair, thick and dark. She has Julia's handprints, footprints and hospital wristbands.
She also has memories of 30 hours of grueling labor -- but no official record of Julia's birth.
Julia was stillborn, with her umbilical cord around her neck. The state issued only a death certificate.

"I remember my discharge nurse said to me, 'You are still a mom. Don't forget that,' " said Golant of San Francisco. "It was amazing to me how important those words were in the days and weeks after my daughter died. But there was no official evidence I was a mom. I had the milk in my breasts and the potbelly of a postpartum mom, but I didn't have a birth certificate." the rest