Bloggers Join Forces to Speak Out on the Mothers Act

This week, women bloggers from across the United States spoke out to galvanize support for the MOTHERS Act for postpartum depression. They wrote to encourage their readers to call members of the U.S. Senate and ask them to pass the Moms Opportunity to Access Help, Education, Research and Support for Postpartum Depression Act (S. 1375).

The Huffington Post, Strollerderby, Silicon Valley Moms Blog, Beliefnet, and Club Mom are just some of the blogs and sites that participated in Blog Day for the MOTHERS Act on October 24th. Many bloggers revealed for the first time publicly that they had suffered postpartum depression, and quite a few shared very intimate details of their experience with this devastating illness. More than 125 blogs participated in the event, which was sponsored by BlogHer, Postpartum Support International, and Postpartum Progress. (For a list of all participating blogs, go to http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com/weblog/2007/10/today-is-blog-f.html.) Many Senate office phone lines remained busy all day.

The MOTHERS Act, sponsored by U.S. Senators Robert Menendez, (D-NJ) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) will ensure that new moms and their families are educated about PPD, screened for symptoms, and provided with essential services. It will also increase research into the causes, diagnoses and treatments for postpartum depression. This week, presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) signed on as a co-sponsor.

Postpartum depression is a serious and disabling condition that affects up to 20 percent of new mothers - 800,000 American women each year. Yet only 15 percent of these women will receive any assessment or treatment .Untreated, consequences of maternal mood disorders range from chronic, disabling depression to death. Consequences of untreated maternal depression on infants/children range from behavioral and learning disabilities to depression and death.