Go here. Send a letter now. Here’s mine:

Dear Senators:

I represent tens of thousands of readers of Postpartum Progress, the most widely-read blog in the United States on perinatal mood disorders. I hear from these women every day about the suffering and isolation they’re experiencing while going through the devastation of postpartum depression and related illnesses. They want to know why they weren’t warned and what could have been done to prevent it. They want to know why there aren’t more services available to help them recover, from local support groups and trained healthcare professionals to better information into the causes of perinatal mood disorders and the impact of various treatments. We know from research that untreated perinatal mood disorders are a serious public health threat –they can lead to chronic depression in the mother, behavioral problems in the child and stress-related health problems in both — yet 90% of all women who suffer are never treated. This serves as an enormous financial cost to our health system and even bigger social cost to our communities now and into the future, and it will continue on perpetually until we break the cycle and take the lead to proactively educate pregnant mothers, support increased research and train our healthcare providers. I know this as a child of a mother who went through PPD, whose mother had it as well, and as a woman who had postpartum OCD herself. Please pass the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act. By doing this, you will immediately begin to create healthier families all across America.

Sincerely,

Katherine Stone