Imagine a treatable condition poised to sweep through many parts of our country, threatening to sink our healthcare system under trillions of dollars in costs and alter our society as we know it. In a modern, highly sophisticated nation, one might ask what we can do to prevent this disaster. Yet, here we are, and the silence is deafening.
Dr. Catherine Birndorf, a reproductive psychiatrist and founder of The Motherhood Center of New York, states, "Whatever you believe about a woman's right to have an abortion, the irrefutable medical fact is that forced pregnancy — when a woman or girl becomes pregnant without seeking or desiring it, and abortion is denied, hindered, delayed or made difficult — will profoundly increase the number of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) in women and birthing people, also commonly known as postpartum depression."
