PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Georgette Forney - 412-398-7885
National Silent No More Awareness Campaign
For Immediate Release
September 29th, 2004
Reproductive Rights Should Equal Right to Research
Washington DC –Women associated with the National Silent No More Awareness Campaign applaud members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health for their decision to hold hearings related to Post-partum and Post-abortion Depression today, Wednesday, September 29th, 2004 in Washington D.C..
The hearings address two bills that call for research related to women’s reproductive healthcare needs. The first, the Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act, (H.R. 846) introduced by Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois seeks to provide for research on and services for individuals with postpartum depression and psychosis. The second bill, the Post-abortion Depression Research and Care Act, (H.R. 4543) introduced by Congressman Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania, seeks to provide for research on, and services for individuals with post-abortion depression and psychosis.
Rep. Rush has introduced H.R. 846 every year since 2001. The bill is named for Chicago-native and pharmaceutical sales manager Melanie Blocker Stokes, who, after the birth of her first child, Sommer Skyy, was gripped by postpartum depression and psychosis. Despite a courageous fight against the disorder, in June 2001 Stokes jumped to her death from a 12th-story window.
Rep. Pitts also previously introduced his bill based on the strong anecdotal evidence that women who have abortions experience feelings of guilt and depression in connection with their abortion. Unfortunately there are also documented cases of women committing suicide after abortion.
Research into women’s reproductive health issues has been caught in the net of the abortion debate while women across this country suffer, struggle and die each year. The Silent No More Awareness Campaign believes it time for non-partisan research to begin looking at the long-term impact abortion and child birth has on women’s mental and physical health.
"The more information we have about the effect these things have on us, the more we as women become informed consumers," says Georgette Forney, President of NOEL and Co-founder of the Campaign. She further states "The lack of information regarding abortion's impact on women's health puts physicians at a disadvantage in providing adequate health care for women like me who have had abortions. We need this research"
The National Silent No More Awareness Campaign is sponsored by NOEL and Priests for Life. Visit the Campaign website for more information: www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org.