New York, U.S.A. – Every Mother Counts, an advocacy and mobilization campaign founded by Christy Turlington Burns to increase education and support for the global reduction of maternal mortality, and CHI&Partners, an international advertising agency based in New York, have launched No Mothers Day, a groundbreaking social issue campaign designed to raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of girls and women around the world who die each year from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth.

The cornerstone of the campaign is a social issue film that features moms encouraging other moms to join in solidarity by disappearing on May 13, 2012 Mother’s Day. No phone calls. No emails. No social media. No gifts. This unified action is meant to demonstrate the hole that a woman leaves in the world when she dies in pregnancy and childbirth.

In leading a movement to forego Mother’s Day this year, the two organizations hope to bring more attention to the global issue of maternal mortality so that more mothers are here to celebrate in years to come. The film was directed by filmmaker, Ed Burns.

“Being able to do good work for a good cause so you can truly make a difference is a fantastic opportunity,” said Victoria Davies, Managing Partner at CHI&Partners. “No Mothers Day is an idea that could only be championed by Christy and Every Mother Counts – and forces us to think about a world without mothers on the one day when people should be thinking about mothers the most”.

The film features mothers between the ages of 24-80 expressing the belief that together, “our silence will speak the loudest, for all mothers.” Some of the high profile mothers featured in the film includes, Christy Turlington Burns, Jennifer Connelly, Kelly Rutherford, Ann Curry, Blythe Danner, Debra Messing, Dayle Haddon, Tonya Lewis-Lee and Heather Armstrong (Dooce).

“We hope this film becomes a pivotal moment in getting people to stop and think about maternal health on a much larger scale,” said Christy Turlington Burns, founder, Every Mother Counts. “Nearly 360,000 women die every year from largely preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 90 percent of those deaths are preventable. Once people know the facts, they will want to do what they can and come to us to find ways to engage.”

Turlington Burns founded Every Mother Counts as a campaign to support her first documentary, No Woman, No Cry, about the global state of maternal health, and to increase awareness about the hundreds of thousands of girls and women who die each year from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth.

The campaign was so well received and the demand for continued engagement so strong that EMC has evolved into an organization to help individuals, companies and organizations find their own voice on maternal health and join a growing community of advocates.

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Known around the world for her charming look and impeccable walk, Christy Turlington has been a reference in the fashion industry since the late 1980s. Alongside Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista, Christy became what the press would soon describe as a supermodel. Now, 25 years later, her advocacy campaigns have caught up with her flawless beauty.

In 2010 she founded ‘Every Mother Counts’, an organization that tackles the astonishing rate of  preventable pregnancy complications that cost a life every 90 seconds. A very personal project, she spells it out in her directorial debut ‘No Woman No Cry’. The documentary brings to our attention a brutal reality of life.

A radiant looking Christy is gracefully sprawled in a delivery room while filmmaker husband, Edward Burns, shoots the magical moment of their first child’s birth. Right after the baby is born, Christy begins to hemorrhage heavily, something that might have certainly been fatal had she not been a first world citizen.

A harsh wake-up call that prompted a journey through different countries, where mothers struggle to have a safe pregnancy. There’s no doubt that, although she‘s not completely retired from the fashion industry, her model status is the last of her occupations nowadays.

From her Twitter account, Christy Turlington Burns raises awareness through messages, videos, links and special announcements regarding the many events she attends on behalf of ’Every Mother Counts’. With more than 33,000 devoted followers, Christy’s twitter has become the voice of her innovative campaigns.

But instead of promoting a fragrance or a pair of sunglasses, she is spreading the word for fundraisers, conferences and new projects. And if she is to endorse a beauty campaign, she makes sure the big names that want her image also chip in financially. These days she’s getting ready for the next challenge, a marathon that will take place on November 6th in New York City.

It is a project that will hopefully raise a whopping amount of money and also a whole lot of awareness. We can only hope that besides thousands of people, a few supermodels-turned-supermoms join Christy in this adventure. In the last weeks, Christy has actively participated in various events such as a campaign called ‘GW Phones For Hope’ at The George Washington University, where she said they’re hoping to get over 20,000 used cell phones to generate new ones for developing countries.

Also she launched Avon’s new fragrance and got a $10,000 donation from the cosmetic company and will be soon premiering her new short film ‘Every Mother Counts: Obstetric Fistula’ at the Lunafest film festival. There is no excuse, we may be parents or potential parents but ultimately everybody has a mother and a special story attached to their birth too.

A few days ago, a generous mom-to-be took her twitter account to confess she had donated the amount of money she’d be otherwise spending on the baby shower invitations to ‘Every Mother Counts’. Such an inspiring action that will hopefully become a global reality thanks to people like Christy Turlington Burns.

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