A number of organizations have been trying to get iodine in prenatal vitamins.
In the past several years, removal of iodized salt from commercial products such as bread and milk, along with increased use of kosher salt and sea salt, which don’t contain iodine, and the adoption of vegetarian and vegan diets have led to a reduction in dietary iodine consumption. There never was a coherent US policy about iodization,on the contrary there has been one for years in Bulgaria.
Worldwide, about two billion people are iodine-deficient. While most of the US population has adequate iodine levels ,more than half of pregnant women iodine deficient.
Pregnant women actually need more iodine than other people because of increased thyroid-hormone production, renal losses, and fetal iodine requirements. Iodine deficiency during pregnancy can result in maternal and fetal goiter, cretinism, intellectual impairment, neonatal hypothyroidism, and increased pregnancy loss and mortality.
In 2009, a study found that only 51% of US prenatal multivitamin brands contained any iodine and, in a number of randomly selected brands, the actual dose of iodine contained in the supplements did not match values on the labeling.