110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 20 
AN ACT 
To provide for research on, and services for individuals with, 
postpartum depression and psychosis. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Melanie Blocker- 
Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Postpartum depression is a devastating 
mood disorder which strikes many women during 
and after pregnancy. 
(2) Postpartum mood changes are common and 
can be broken into three subgroups: ‘‘baby blues’’, 
which is an extremely common and the less severe 
form of postpartum depression; postpartum mood 
and anxiety disorders, which are more severe than 
baby blues and can occur during pregnancy and any-
time within the first year of the infant’s birth; and 
postpartum psychosis, which is the most extreme 
form of postpartum depression and can occur during 
pregnancy and up to 12 months after delivery. 
(3) ‘‘Baby blues’’ is characterized by mood 
swings, feelings of being overwhelmed, tearfulness, 
irritability, poor sleep, mood changes, and a sense of 
vulnerability. 
(4) The symptoms of postpartum mood and 
anxiety disorders are the worsening and the continu-
ation of the baby blues beyond the first days or 
weeks after delivery.
(5) The symptoms of postpartum psychosis in-
clude losing touch with reality, distorted thinking, 
delusions, auditory hallucinations, paranoia, hyper-
activity, and rapid speech or mania. 
(6) Each year over 400,000 women suffer from 
postpartum mood changes, with baby blues afflicting 
up to 80 percent of new mothers; postpartum mood 
and anxiety disorders impairing around 10 to 20 
percent of new mothers; and postpartum psychosis 
striking 1 in 1,000 new mothers. 
(7) Postpartum depression is a treatable dis-
order if promptly diagnosed by a trained provider 
and attended to with a personalized regimen of care 
including social support, therapy, medication, and 
when necessary hospitalization. 
(8) All too often postpartum depression goes 
undiagnosed or untreated due to the social stigma 
surrounding depression and mental illness, the myth 
of motherhood, the new mother’s inability to self-di-
agnose her condition, the new mother’s shame or 
embarrassment over discussing her depression so 
near to the birth of her child, the lack of under-
standing in society and the medical community of 
the complexity of postpartum depression, and eco-
nomic pressures placed on hospitals and providers.
(9) Untreated, postpartum depression can lead 
to further depression, substance abuse, loss of em-
ployment, divorce and further social alienation, self- 
destructive behavior, or even suicide. 
(10) Untreated, postpartum depression impacts 
society through its effect on the infant’s physical 
and psychological development, child abuse, neglect, 
or death of the infant or other siblings, and the dis-
ruption of the family. 
TITLE 
I—RESEARCH 
ON 
POSTPARTUM 
DEPRESSION 
AND PSYCHOSIS 
SEC. 101. EXPANSION AND INTENSIFICATION OF ACTIVI-
TIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, acting through the Director of the Na-
tional Institutes of Health and the Director of the Na-
tional Institute of Mental Health (in this title referred to 
as the ‘‘Institute’’), is encouraged to continue aggressive 
work on postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. 
(b) COORDINATION WITH OTHER INSTITUTES.—The 
Director of the Institute should continue to coordinate ac-
tivities of the Director under subsection (a) with similar 
activities conducted by the other national research insti-
tutes and agencies of the National Institutes of Health
to the extent that such Institutes and agencies have re-
sponsibilities that are related to postpartum conditions. 
(c) PROGRAMS FOR POSTPARTUM CONDITIONS.—In 
carrying out subsection (a), the Director of the Institute 
is encouraged to continue research to expand the under-
standing of the causes of, and to find a cure for, 
postpartum conditions. Activities under such subsection 
shall include conducting and supporting the following: 
(1) Basic research concerning the etiology and 
causes of the conditions. 
(2) Epidemiological studies to address the fre-
quency and natural history of the conditions and the 
differences among racial and ethnic groups with re-
spect to the conditions. 
(3) The development of improved screening and 
diagnostic techniques. 
(4) Clinical research for the development and 
evaluation of new treatments, including new biologi-
cal agents. 
(5) Information and education programs for 
health care professionals and the public. 
SEC. 102. NATIONAL PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In-
stitutes of Health and the Administrator of the Health 
Resources and Services Administration are encouraged to
carry out a coordinated national campaign to increase the 
awareness and knowledge of postpartum depression and 
postpartum psychosis. 
(b) PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS.—Activities 
under the national campaign under subsection (a) may in-
clude public service announcements through television, 
radio, and other means. 
SEC. 103. BIENNIAL REPORTING. 
Section 403(a)(5) of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 283(a)(5)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subparagraph (L) as sub-
paragraph (M); and 
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (K) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(L) Depression.’’. 
SEC. 104. LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF RELATIVE MENTAL 
HEALTH CONSEQUENCES FOR WOMEN OF RE-
SOLVING A PREGNANCY. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Director of the Institute may conduct a na-
tionally representative longitudinal study (during the pe-
riod of fiscal years 2008 through 2018) of the relative 
mental health consequences for women of resolving a preg-
nancy (intended and unintended) in various ways, includ-
ing carrying the pregnancy to term and parenting the