I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7087 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a pilot program for evidencebased perinatal mental health prevention for pregnant and postpartum 

members of the Armed Forces and beneficiaries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2024 

Ms. HOULAHAN (for herself and Mr. BACON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a pilot program for evidence-based perinatal mental health prevention for pregnant and postpartum members of the Armed 

Forces and beneficiaries, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Maintaining our Obli5 gation to Moms who Serve Act’’ or the ‘‘MOMS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PREVENTING PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH CONDI2 TIONS IN PREGNANT AND POSTPARTUM 

3 MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND 

4 BENEFICIARIES TO IMPROVE MILITARY 

5 READINESS. 

6 (a) PILOT PROGRAM.— 

7 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec9 retary of Defense, acting through the Defense 

10 Health Agency, shall establish a pilot program to as11 sess the feasibility and impact of providing evidence12 based perinatal mental health prevention programs 

13 for pregnant and postpartum members of the Armed 

14 Forces and beneficiaries in military medical treat15 ment facilities with the goal of reducing the rates of 

16 perinatal mental health conditions and improving the 

17 military readiness of such members and their fami18 lies. 

19 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—Pursuant to the pilot 

20 program, the Secretary shall carry out the following: 

21 (A) Integrate the evidence-based perinatal 

22 mental health prevention programs for pregnant 

23 and postpartum members of the Armed Forces 

24 and beneficiaries within existing maternal or 

25 pediatric care or programming such as primary 


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1 care, obstetric care, pediatric care, or family or 

2 parenting programs, when applicable. 

3 (B) Select pilot sites in a manner to rep4 resent the diversity amongst the Armed Force 

5 including— 

6 (i) at least two military medical treat7 ment facilities per Armed Force; 

8 (ii) geographically diverse sites across 

9 the United States and outside of the conti10 nental United States; and 

11 (iii) prioritization of military medical 

12 treatment facilities with established mater13 nal health programs or Women’s Clinics. 

14 (C) Implement the prevention programs at 

15 times, locations, and structured in a manner 

16 that incentivizes participation by pregnant and 

17 postpartum members of the Armed Forces and 

18 beneficiaries, including removing barriers for 

19 member and beneficiary participation such as 

20 childcare availability, differences in rank and 

21 military occupational specialty, and any other 

22 factor the Secretary determines. 

23 (D) Increase awareness of and encourage 

24 participation in care or programming for preg25 nant and postpartum members of the Armed 


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1 Forces and beneficiaries as described in sub2 paragraph (A). 

3 (b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

4 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary of Defense shall establish an advisory com7 mittee to assist the Department of Defense in car8 rying out the requirements under this section. 

9 (2) MEMBERS.—The Secretary shall select the 

10 members of the advisory committee including the fol11 lowing: 

12 (A) Members of the Armed Forces or bene13 ficiaries— 

14 (i) who are or have experienced 

15 perinatal care in the previous five years 

16 while in the service; 

17 (ii) represent various branches and 

18 ranks within the Armed Forces; and 

19 (iii) preference for members of the 

20 Armed Forces or beneficiaries who experi21 enced a perinatal mental health condition. 

22 (B) Representatives of military and vet23 erans service organizations. 

24 (C) Experts in perinatal mental health pro25 motion, prevention, and intervention. 


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1 (D) Representatives from the Federal Ma2 ternal Mental Health Hotline and related 

3 perinatal mental health programs. 

4 (3) DUTIES.—The advisory committee shall 

5 guide the Secretary through the implementation of 

6 the requirements under this section by providing rec7 ommendations to the Secretary on the following 

8 items: 

9 (A) Identification of evidence-based 

10 perinatal prevention programs. 

11 (B) Strategies to increase participation 

12 amongst a diverse group of pregnant and 

13 postpartum members of the Armed Forces and 

14 beneficiaries. 

15 (C) Outreach to eligible pregnant and 

16 postpartum members of the Armed Forces and 

17 beneficiaries on the benefits of prevention and 

18 availability of pilot program participation. 

19 (D) Strategies to reduce stigma amongst 

20 members of the Armed Forces and beneficiaries 

21 about perinatal mental health conditions and 

22 the use of prevention programs. 

23 (c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 

24 provide technical assistance to military medical treatment 

25 facilities in implementing evidence-based perinatal prevenVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:24 Jan 30, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7087.IH H7087

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1 tion programs under subsection (a) and outside of this 

2 pilot program. 

3 (d) STUDY.—The Secretary shall conduct a study of 

4 the effectiveness of the pilot program under subsection (a) 

5 in preventing or reducing the onset of symptoms of 

6 perinatal mental health conditions amongst pregnant and 

7 postpartum members of the Armed Forces and bene8 ficiaries. 

9 (e) REPORTS.— 

10 (1) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall 

11 submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the 

12 Senate and House of Representatives an annual re13 port on the progress of the pilot program adminis14 tered under subsection (a) for the year covered by 

15 the report, including the number of pregnant and 

16 postpartum members of the Armed Forces and bene17 ficiaries completing the evidence-based prevention 

18 program broken out by type of prevention program, 

19 military service, military occupational specialty, 

20 rank, marital status, birth setting of delivery, sex, 

21 age, race, and ethnicity. 

22 (2) FINAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall sub23 mit a final report to the Congressional Defense 

24 Committees, and make sure report available to the 

25 public, including— 


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1 (A) all elements within the annual report 

2 under paragraph (1); 

3 (B) an assessment and findings from the 

4 study in subsection (d); 

5 (C) recommendations on whether the 

6 model studied in the pilot program should be 

7 continued or more widely adopted by the De8 partment; and 

9 (D) recommendations on how to scale the 

10 pilot program and ensure cost-effective sustain11 ability. 

12 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 are to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

14 $5,000,000 for each fiscal year 2025 through 2029. 

15 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH CONDITION.— 

17 The term ‘‘perinatal mental health condition’’ means 

18 a mental health disorder that onsets during the 

19 pregnancy or within the one-year postpartum period. 

20 (2) PREVENTION PROGRAMS.—The term ‘‘pre21 vention programs’’ means an activity shown to avert 

22 or decrease the onset or symptoms of a perinatal 

23 mental health condition. 

Æ 


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