On July 19, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Heath approved, by voice vote, the Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act (H.R. 20), after adopting a substitute by Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), also by voice vote. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the measure on May 1 (see The Source, 5/4/07).
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), would authorize $3 million in FY2008 and “such sums as may be necessary” for FY2009-2010 for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to expand research on postpartum depression (PPD) and postpartum psychosis. As stipulated in the manager’s amendment, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health would be encouraged to conduct or support research to expand the understanding of the causes of, and to find a cure for, postpartum depression, as well as to study miscarriage-related and post-abortion depression. The measure also would establish a grant program to operate and coordinate care for affected individuals and their families.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said, “In Illinois, between 18,500 and 37,000 women are affected by postpartum depression each year. Nationwide, postpartum depression affects an estimated 10 to 15 percent of women. H.R. 20 will expand research on this illness and will assist families with the delivery of [mental health] services. For the past four congresses, I have cosponsored Mr. Rush’s Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act, which now has 126 cosponsors. I am thrilled to see that this bill will finally move forward and I thank Mr. Rush for his leadership on this issue.”
“This bill should shed some light on a misunderstood part of pregnancy, one that with over 25 years in practice as an obstetrician I saw several times,” said Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX). He continued, “This depression affects women at what should be the happiest time of their life and too many women have suffered in silence because they did not know what was happening to them. It certainly can be frightening for the patient, the family, and for the caregiver as well…I also appreciate the inclusion of the language for a longitudinal study for mood disorders which a woman may have at the resolution of a pregnancy, regardless of the method by which it concludes.
