Lauren Hale's letter to Time magazine:

I am typing this as my dear daughters are asleep on the floor in our living room after a great evening together including S'mores, Orange floats, a movie, and a chocolate bath.

It is FOR them that I want this. It is FOR women who have experienced and will sadly experience the same level of ignorance and idiocy I myself was exposed to that I want the MOTHER'S Act to pass. No woman deserves to walk into her obstetrician's office and be denied aid or told everything she's feeling isn't real. No woman deserves what has happened to so many of us. Nor does a woman deserve to experience what Amy [Philo] has. I myself have been a victim of Zoloft. It stopped me in my tracks – flashed thoughts of wanting to murder my children through my head. It hospitalized me. Yet here I stand. WITH many other dedicated survivors, reaching out selflessly to those behind us, those who are in the same places we once were. THEY do not deserve uneducated physicians scoffing at them as they dredge every ounce of strength from the depths of their souls in order to avoid harming their children. They deserve compassion, education, understanding, everything the MOTHER'S Act stands for. As survivors – we have a MORAL obligation to tell our stories, to speak up so mothers and families struggling with Postpartum Mood Disorders KNOW they are not alone. When I was hospitalized all I wanted was to talk with another mother who could tell me I wasn't alone. I needed someone to understand what I was going through. Alas, I did not have that. Instead I struggled alone.

I'm sick of the opposition. I'm sick of being slammed because I chose (freely) to take medication. I'm sick of being accused of not being informed when I chose (freely) to take my medication. I'm sick of their lies. I'm sick of their bastardization of this bill. I'm sick of their dedication to limiting the choices and denigrating the hope this bill carries for new mothers everywhere. I'm sick of my hard journey being completely desecrated and ignored because it involves medication as a piece of my recovery.

Mothers need support as they travel through the postpartum period. Regardless of the involvement of medication. They deserve honest, compassionate support at the very least. Not fear-mongering, not harsh words, not screaming, and certainly not judgement. Can't we at least provide that?