WASHINGTON — The House on Monday urged health agencies to expand research into postpartum depression, which affects 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. Casting no votes were Republicans Ron Paul of Texas, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Paul Broun of Georgia.
The measure authorizes $3 million to aggressively pursue ongoing studies into postpartum depression and carry out a national campaign to increase awareness of the issue.
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., 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 said 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 strikes one in 1,000 new mothers.
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