Maternal Mental Health Bill Will Improve Force Readiness

by Adrienne Griffen

The inability to connect. trouble expressing emotions. A sense of isolation, along with disrupted sleep, loss of appetite, and feelings of inadequacy.

These are the challenges that plague women struggling with maternal mental health (MMH) conditions, which include anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues that can occur during pregnancy or the first year following pregnancy.

Over the last two decades, I have worked with women from every income, regional, racial, and educational background. I know a new mother cannot buy her way out of an MMH condition and cannot read enough parenting books to prevent it.

“The military has a long history of driving social change, and with new legislation in hand, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is equipped to make major strides in the area of maternal mental health.”

No one is immune. But women dealing with general upheaval — moves, job uncertainty, income instability — and women who lack strong social support networks are at higher risk. Military moms, both those in uniform as well as spouses of active-duty service members, are especially vulnerable: frequent moves, distance from family support, temporary duty assignments, and longer-term deployments can leave military mothers feeling especially isolated and alone. 

As a former Naval officer, I understand that military mothers face additional unique challenges, including living and working within a culture that emphasizes self-reliance, strength, and service before self. A common sentiment in the military is that the unit is only as strong as the weakest link; no one wants to be the weakest link. But being pregnant, having a mental health condition, or needing accommodations for work are all signs of weakness in the military.

Service members and their spouses may not seek mental health care for a variety of reasons, including logistics such as childcare, transportation, and time off from work; the availability of specialized mental health care, especially while deployed; and fear that acknowledging a mental health condition may have a negative impact on the service member’s security clearance or career.

As a result, military mothers often struggle in silence.

The good news is that there is hope. The military has a long history of driving social change, and with new legislation in hand, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is equipped to make major strides in the area of maternal mental health.

How The MOMS Act Came to Be

My years in the Navy, coupled with my lived experience with postpartum depression and anxiety, have motivated me to prioritize the mental health and well-being of our nation’s military mothers. It is why my organization — Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance (MMHLA) — asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine maternal mental health in the military. After Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) shepherded our request, in 2022, the GAO released its study, “Defense Health Care: Prevalence of and Efforts to Screen and Treat Mental Health Conditions in Prenatal and Postpartum TRICARE Beneficiaries.” It found more than one-third of military servicemembers and military spouses received a mental health diagnosis less than a year after giving birth. Many of these women did not receive adequate care to address their struggles. The GAO said stigma was one reason they did not.

The GAO also found that military mothers experience maternal mental health conditions at two to three times the rate of their civilian counterparts. About half of mothers with deployed spouses experience postpartum depression, according to a study published in the Journal of Obstetric Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing. Again, while this data does not imply the months after birth are easy for non-military women, these numbers — and their effect on military readiness — helped convince a few members of the United States Congress that the DoD needed to do something.

With the report in hand, MMHLA worked with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to introduce The Maintaining our Obligation to Moms who Serve (MOMS) Act. Recognizing lasting change must be bipartisan and cross-regional, MMHLA brought military moms and spouses from all over the country to Capitol Hill so lawmakers could hear how MMH conditions affect military families, unit morale, and readiness.

After an 11-month sprint, the legislation was adopted in December 2024 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The Cost of Not Addressing Maternal Mental Health Conditions

Women experiencing maternal mental health conditions often remain silent, in part because of the way that these women have been portrayed in the media. Mothers experiencing mental health challenges have often been depicted as monsters who want to harm their infants. And all too often, the media has conflated postpartum depression with postpartum psychosis.

So, let’s clear things up.

Maternal mental health conditions encompass a range of mental health challenges that impact 1 in 5 women during pregnancy and the first year following pregnancy. These issues include anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders. Almost all women recover with a combination of improved self-care, social support, therapy or counseling, and medication.

“I know a new mother cannot buy her way out of an MMH condition and cannot read enough parenting books to prevent it.”

Postpartum psychosis is the most severe maternal mental health condition and also the least frequent, impacting 1-2 women per 1,000 births. Women experiencing postpartum psychosis may experience hallucinations and delusions, and they are at increased risk of hurting themselves or someone they love. Thus, these women require immediate medical care.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of women experiencing maternal mental health conditions — as many as 75 percent, according to a study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology — go without treatment. The economic cost of this neglect is estimated to be $32,000 per mother-infant pair, or $14 billion each year in the United States, according to research in the American Journal of Public Health.

In the military, the challenges are even greater. Military families must contend with dual military careers, temporary duty assignments, and long-term deployments—often without family support. We see that maternal mental health conditions can impact not just the mother and the family but also unit and ultimately, force readiness.   

The MOMS Act Will Improve Screening, Access to Counseling and Treatment

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), who each gave birth while in the Air Force, and House Armed Services Committee Chair Don Bacon (R-NE) shepherded The MOMS Act from its introduction early last year to its adoption in December. Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), along with a list of 16 bipartisan co-sponsors in the House, also offered important support.

Because of these champions, women in the military and military spouses will now get the postpartum care they need.

The MOMS Act calls for establishing a program within the military health care system to provide clinical and non-medical resources to prevent and treat MMH conditions. That work will include providing mental health screening, counseling, treatment, and parenting support to military moms and education to military families about what mental health resources are available.

By offering better services to military members and their spouses, we can change the culture in the military and perhaps across society as well. While the culture within the military is often thought of as traditional, armed services leadership has helped to change the way Americans think about and treat traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. With adequate funding and rigorous implementation, The MOMS Act will allow military leaders to establish a model for how to improve maternal mental health care in this country.

Implementation is the next step. MMHLA is at the ready to support the DoD in the program’s implementation as we continue this important work.

Adreinne Griffen, MPP, is the executive director of the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance and a veteran of the U.S. Navy. She is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and has a master’s in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.