It's time to talk about the Melanie Blocker Stokes (MBS) MOTHERS Act again. I know, I know. We've heard this all before, you're thinking. I already called my Senator, you're thinking. I already wrote about this on my blog, you're thinking. Sheesh!, you may even be thinking. Well, apparently everything you and I have done so far in support of this bill hasn't been enough.

One area I don't like to talk about is hospitalization. I don't know why. It's like the ultimate embarrassment for me or something that at one point I had to be hospitalized in a mental hospital (UGH!) for depression. It was only for a few days, but it's one thing of which I have to say I still feel slightly ashamed. If our society considered mental illness a physical illness, then of course I wouldn't be ashamed, because there is nothing at all wrong with being sick and having to go to the hospital.

This past week as I wandered, or you might say stumbled, around Stumble Upon familiarizing myself with the layout and realizing the potential to find a lot of great blogs, I came across an article that stopped me in my tracks. I wish I could say it was a fabulously uplifting story, but the reality is that it was the complete opposite.

There is a ridiculous campaign being waged through petitions and blogs right now to block passage of the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act for postpartum depression.

I am truly peeved and disappointed at the breathless, hysterical ranting going on about the MOTHERS Act. Many of those who oppose it seem to have done LITTLE to NOTHING to inform themselves about the actual bill and the organizations that support it. Falsehoods are being spread. Here are some examples:

Last week I wrote about The Big Push for Midwives, a national grassroots campaign pushing for the regulation and licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. As it currently stands, there are 26 states that ban CPMs. If caught practicing there, midwives could be subjected to fines, jail time, even face the possibility of a felony conviction in Missouri.

Despite the fact that other developed countries in the world that have adopted midwives as the primary care providers for healthy pregnant women, the United States has yet to catch on. One percent of American women choose to give birth at home. Just last week the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a trade union representing the financial and professional interests of obstetricians, released a statement reiterating their opposition to home births and CPMs, and suggesting that mothers who give birth at home with a midwife are choosing the birth experience over the health of their baby. Rather than advocating for "quality health care for women" as the group claims is part of their work on their about page, the entire statement perpetuates FUD; Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

FEBRUARY 14, at 10am, the Senate's HELP committee will mark up the new Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act Bill ...

Let's ask the HELP committee to send a Valentine to America's mothers by finishing up the bill and sending it to the Senate floor for a final vote.