Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of the Melanie Blocker Stokes Mom's Opportunity to Access Health, Education, Research, and Support for Postpartum Depression Act of 2009.

I would like to thank Chairman Waxman, Ranking Member Barton, my colleague Congressman Frank Pallone, and the Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee who unanimously supported this legislation's passage out of the committee.

After eight long years, today marks an important step forward in the journey for Congress to fully recognize postpartum depression as a national women's health priority. This bill comes to the floor today with strong, bipartisan support. No longer will postpartum depression be dismissed as mere ``baby blues.''

Mr. Speaker, today, 60 to 80 percent of new mothers experience symptoms of postpartum depression while the more serious condition, postpartum psychosis, affects up to 20 percent of women who have recently given birth. Experts in the field of women's health like Susan

Stone, Chair of the President's Advisory Council of Postpartum Support International, says that these statistics do not include mothers whose babies are stillborn, who miscarry, or who are vulnerable to these devastating disorders which raises those at risk into the millions. The most extreme form, postpartum psychosis, is exhibited in about one percent of all new mothers.

At what should be the happiest time in a woman's life these mood disorders result in feelings of despondency, tearfulness, inadequacy, guilt and fatigue. In the worst case scenario, if left untreated or not treated properly, postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis has resulted in suicide and infanticide. The consequences of untreated maternal depression in the mother range from chronic disability to death of the infant as well as learning and behavioral disabilities that can negatively impact a child's development.

In light of all these sobering facts, sadly, I was finally compelled to author H.R. 20 in December 2007 after watching the news accounts of the missing Melanie Blocker Stokes. This bright, vibrant woman who loved life was a first time mother, a successful business woman and my constituent. Despite her family's valiant interventions, Melanie's psychosis was so severe that she slipped away and ended her life in solitary agony.

As news of her death swept throughout Chicago, I reached out to Melanie's mother, Carol Blocker, who told me her daughter's diagnosis and suicide was the result of postpartum psychosis.

And, sometime later, Dr. Nada Stotland of the American Psychiatric Association, also a constituent of mine, also reached out to me. Dr. Stotland detailed the value of additional research and discussed the under-reporting and misdiagnosis of postpartum depression and psychosis in our country.

There is no denying the fact that the need for resources to combat postpartum depression grows more and more each and every year. Here are the facts: H.R. 20 will finally put significant money and attention into research, screening, treatment and education for mothers suffering from this disease. Research indicates that some form of postpartum depression affects approximately 1 in 1,000 new mothers, or up to 800,000 new cases annually. This data does not include the additional cases of women who may be vulnerable to these illnesses even after they've miscarried or who deliver stillborn infants.

Of the new postpartum cases this year, less than 15 percent of mothers will receive treatment and even fewer will receive adequate treatment; however, with treatment over 90 percent of these mothers could overcome their depression. Every 50 seconds a new mother will begin struggling with the effects of mental illness.

Mr. Speaker, these facts are profound and, in the words of Carol Blocker, ``. . . hundreds of thousands of women, who have suffered from postpartum depression and psychosis are still waiting for Congress to act eight years after legislation was first introduced.'' Mr. Speaker, thank you for this day because, today, Mrs. Blocker and hundreds of thousands of mothers will not have to wait any longer for Congress to act! By passage of H.R. 20, today, we will put mothers first.

When this bill becomes law, my legislation will:

Encourage the Secretary of Health and Human Services to continue: (1) activities on postpartum depression; and (2) research to expand the understanding of the causes of, and treatments for, postpartum conditions.

Express the sense of Congress that the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health may conduct a nationally representative longitudinal study of the relative mental health consequences for women of resolving a pregnancy in various ways.

Amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants for projects for the establishment, operation, and coordination of effective and cost-efficient systems for the delivery of essential services to individuals with a postpartum condition and their families.

Direct the Secretary to ensure that such projects provide education and services with respect to the diagnosis and management of postpartum conditions.

Moreover, this bill is an affordable approach to research and services. This is good policy, good politics and a good public health bill.

Before I close, I'd like to take a moment to remember and honor the hundreds of thousands of women--women who have lost either their ability to ``mother'' or, in far too many cases, their lives to postpartum depression.

Mr. Speaker, this bill, this day and this moment would not be a reality had it not been for a beautiful, young Chicago native, the late Melanie Blocker Stokes, and the valiant effort her husband and her family made to save her lift but to no avail. And, even though Melanie did not survive her battle with postpartum psychosis, Melanie's battle and her ultimate sacrifice will never be forgotten because of our efforts, here, today.

I would like to thank Carol Blocker, my friend, constituent and fellow activist, who with grace and dignity found a way for her daughter's memory to live on.

I would also like to thank all the groups who support this legislation. Groups like, Postpartum Support International, the Family Mental Health Foundation, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

I'd also like to acknowledge the tremendous work of groups like the Children's Defense Fund, the Melanie Blocker Stokes Foundation, Suicide Prevention Action Network, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, Mental Health America, NARAL, National Alliance for Mental Illness, Community Behavioral Healthcare, the March of Dimes, The National Association of Social Workers, National Organization for Women and North American Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynecology.

I thank these groups and various activists for their relentless efforts to address this issue including calling their congressional representatives and mailing or faxing letters in support of H.R. 20. Our work will not be done until this bill is signed by the President. And, the good news is, this time we have a friend and fellow Chicagoan in the White House.

And, finally, let me once again thank the hundreds of thousands of unsung women, and their families, who have battled postpartum depression in silence or isolation, in some form, for far too long. To those women and their families I say, you will never suffer in silence again. And, with that, I proudly urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I'm a physician. I've dealt with anxiety and depression in patients throughout my medical career. Depression is an extremely debilitating disease.

What really concerns me at this point is Americans today are getting very, very depressed because of this steamroller of socialism that's being forced down their throats, this steamroller of socialism of bigger and bigger government that is taking money away from small business, it's taking money away from families. They are struggling.

We need to do something about the economy. Americans are hurting. We need to do something about it now. But greater spending and bigger government is not the solution.

In fact, we're going to be taking up a budget this week that is a budget that should cause people great angst here in America. It's a budget that's going to create a tremendous amount of anxiety and depression.

More people are going to see their doctors and ask for antidepressants and nerve pills because of this budget that we're going to see this week that's being presented by the Democratic majority. We've got to stop it.

Republicans have offered alternative after alternative, but the leadership of this House won't even consider them. The leadership of this House has said that Republicans are the ``Party of No,'' and that is absolutely not factual. Republicans have offered many alternatives, but they just won't be considered.

The American people need to wake up and understand that they're going to become more depressed, they're going to become more anxious, they're going to have greater strife within their families, we're going to have more marriages break up because of the budget, in my opinion, that we are going to be presented in this House--and undoubtedly this House will pass it. But it's going to wreck our economy.

America is bankrupt today because of the great spending that's been coming down through the latter part of the Bush administration and now in this administration. We've got to stop it.

The American people need to wake up and demand that we have a responsible government so that they won't be depressed, so they won't be anxious, so that we can have a good economy.

Republicans are offering solutions--commonsense, market-based solutions based on the private sector. It's absolutely critical that we find those solutions; that we work together, Democrats and Republicans alike, to find economic solutions to put this country back on the right course.

We're spending too much, we're taxing too much, we're borrowing too much, and we're bankrupting America--not only the government, but individuals and small businesses--and it has to stop. I call on the American people to write their Congressman, write their Senators, and say ``no.''

We've got to have a better alternative than this budget that's going to be presented this week.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

I thank the gentleman from New Jersey and thank him for his leadership on this issue and many others regarding mental health. I just want to concur with him and Mr. Rush from Illinois that this issue of mental health and postpartum depression I'm glad to see is on the agenda for health care. We are in the year of health care reform, and it's so vital that the issue of the total health of our people makes its way into health care reform.

We find that so many in our country seek help in our health care system and yet don't receive it because our health care system does not respond to the total health of a person. It responds to the physical part of the person but it does not respond to the emotional--the sympathetic part of the person; the psychological, which is the mental health part of the person; the spiritual, which is the sense of purpose that a person has for their life.

We have done such a good job in this country in training our doctors to take care of a person as if they were a machine, and we could fix a person if they had a broken bone or if they had something that we could show on an x-ray or we could test through a blood test, but if we can't show it on an x-ray or a blood test, then we really don't know what to do.

My friends, the fact of the matter is we are much more than just the sum of our parts. Really, a much bigger part of this is the mental health and emotional health of our people. That is why we need to do a lot more to address this if we are going to address people's health in this country.

Frankly, mental illnesses are the second leading cause of lost days in our country. It's quite surprising that even given that statistic, our health care system doesn't respond to this challenge.

So I'm glad to see that this legislation calls on greater research into this area because, frankly, there is a physical element to this. The body does change as a result of mental health problems. We now know, thanks to the new x-ray machines, that we can actually see biochemical changes in the brain. We can see these biochemical changes in the brain, thanks to these new functional magnetic resonance imaging exams.

Furthermore, I think it's so important for people to know that we want a vibrant and a productive people, and we want them to feel active and alive. The best way to do that is to make sure that we give them all the support that they need in this country.

So, to do that, we need to make sure that they get all of the support and get their checkup from their neck up, just as they get their checkup everywhere else. So I'm glad that this proposal is going forward.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 20) to provide for research on, and services for individuals with, postpartum depression and psychosis, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 20, the Melanie Blocker Stokes Mom's Opportunity to Access Health, Education, Research, and Support for Postpartum Depression Act.

Postpartum depression occurs after 10 to 15 percent of all deliveries, and the majority of patients suffer from this illness for more than 6 months. In its most severe form, postpartum psychosis, women may actually suffer from hallucinations and delusions that can put them and their babies at risk.

The bill before us today amends the Public Health Service Act to include a new section that authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants for services related to postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

It would encourage continued research into the causes of and treatments for these conditions and would

give the Secretary the authority to provide grants to deliver services to women with these conditions and their families.

I want to thank my colleague, Representative Bobby Rush, for his work in raising this important issue. He is the sponsor of this bill and has worked hard on it for a long time.

I also want to thank Mary Jo Codey, who is the wife of former Governor Codey from my home State of New Jersey. She came and testified before our subcommittee on this bill and has been outspoken on the issue of postpartum depression.

I urge my colleagues to pass this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield 3 minutes to someone who has been such a leader on so many health care issues, including this one, the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy.)

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the bill be passed, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of H.R. 20, the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act. Last Congress, the Energy and Commerce Committee held hearings on this issue that were deeply emotional, especially when testimony was presented by Melanie Blocker Stokes' mother. This bill highlights the need to increase awareness of postpartum depression and expand the knowledge of its terrible effects.

It is important to note that as many as 80 percent of women experience some mood disturbances after pregnancy. For most women, the symptoms are mild and go away on their own. But 10 to 20 percent of women develop a more disabling form of mood disorder called postpartum depression.

This legislation encourages the continuation of research being done by Federal agencies to determine the causes of postpartum depression and how it can better be treated. I stand in support of this legislation and hope that my colleagues will join me.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun).

I yield back the balance of my time.