AP Features, October 15th, 2007
The House on Monday urged health agencies to expand research into postpartum depression problems that affect up to one-fifth of new mothers and can, if untreated, lead to more serious psychoses.
Democrats also accepted a GOP-backed provision that approves a National Institutes of Mental Health study into the psychological consequences of abortions.
The bill passed 382-3 and now goes to the Senate.
The measure encourages the NIMH, as well as the Health and Human Services secretary and the National Institutes of Health, to aggressively pursue ongoing studies into postpartum depression and carry out a national campaign to increase awareness of the issue. It authorizes the spending of $3 million for these purposes.
With increased attention on the issue, said bill sponsor Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., "no longer will postpartum depression be dismissed as mere 'baby blues.'"
In a compromise reached with Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa., an anti-abortion leader, the bill also includes a nonbinding sense of Congress endorsing studies into mental health issues related to abortions and miscarriages.
Pitts said that while postpartum depression is a real and serious disease, "I believe it is just as important to know the effects of adoption, miscarriage and abortion in order to properly help women."
The bill cites studies that up to 80 percent of new mothers experience "baby blues," characterized by mood swings, feelings of being overwhelmed and irritability.
It said more serious postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, which can occur during pregnancy and anytime within the first year of the infant's birth, impair between 10 and 20 percent of new mothers.
Postpartum psychosis, striking one in 1,000 new mothers, may entail losing touch with reality, delusions, auditory hallucinations, paranoia and hyperactivity.
It notes that while the causes of postpartum depression are unknown, theories include a steep and rapid drop in hormone levels after childbirth, difficulty during labor or pregnancy and external factors such as a lack of support from one's spouse, stressful events such as the death of a loved one or a previous history of depression.
Rush said 90 percent of depression cases are treatable, but that only 15 percent of women with postpartum depression receive treatment.
Casting no votes were Republicans Ron Paul of Texas, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Paul Broun of Georgia.
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/
