Behind the Scenes of The MOMS Act: How the First-Ever Policy for Military Moms’ Mental Health Made It Through Congress
Today, our nation celebrates landmark legislation that supports the mental health and wellbeing of our nation’s military mothers.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — one of the largest pieces of legislation orchestrated by the federal government — includes a new program to address the mental health of both active duty service members and their spouses. This program is based on The Maintaining our Obligation to Moms who Serve Act (or The MOMS Act), a bipartisan bicameral policy introduced by Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance (MMHLA) in January 2024.
The MOMS Act was introduced in January 2024 by Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-6) and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) with co-sponsors Representative Don Bacon (R-NE-2) and Senator Debra Fischer (R-NE).
According to the Government Accountability Office, approximately 100,000 military mothers (both active duty and spouses) give birth each year, and one in three are impacted by maternal mental health conditions. This is twice the rate seen in the civilian population.
To address this disparity, MMHLA partnered with Congress to introduce The MOMS Act — a policy proposal that would bring a maternal mental health prevention and treatment pilot program into the military health care system.
At first, success seemed certain when MMHLA was able to secure bipartisan support of The MOMS Act in both the House and the Senate, but when they proceeded to draft their separate versions of the NDAA, the House included The MOMS Act but the Senate did not.
“When we learned that The MOMS Act was not included in the Senate defense bill, we immediately stepped up our advocacy efforts,” says Jamie Zahlaway Belsito, MMHLA’s Founder and Director of Policy and Partnerships.
“Military mothers face unique challenges and stresses, which increase their risk of experiencing maternal mental health conditions,” says MMHLA’s Executive Director, Adrienne Griffen, a mother and Navy Veteran who knows first-hand the struggles and fears that military mothers silently carry while serving their country. “We were determined to keep this issue as a legislative priority, so we launched a months-long advocacy campaign using as many levers as possible to educate Members of Congress about this important issue and our proposed solution.”
We organized our first online advocacy campaign, enabling anyone from across the country to contact their Senators to support The MOMS Act. This campaign spread beyond our immediate network thanks to organizations MomsRising, Chamber of Mothers, and Mind the Gap who helped collectively generate thousands of messages to Congressional Senators in support of The MOMS Act.
In addition to this groundswell of grassroots advocacy, MMHLA organized a sign-on letter in support of The MOMS Act, obtaining over 100 signatures from organizations proving the widespread support for a policy solution to this issue.
Belsito spoke directly to the chief staffers working for Senators Reed (D-RI) and Shaheen (D-NH) who lead the Senate Armed Services Committee and are the key decision makers on what is included (and excluded) from the final Senate defense bill.
Belsito also travelled to Capitol Hill to meet with other Senators and educate them on the mental health challenges that military mothers experience and how The MOMS Act could address these issues.
In early December — about three months after we learned that The MOMS Act was not in the Senate defense bill — we received word that military maternal mental health made it into the final NDAA, and the result turned out better than expected.
The bill now calls for establishing a standing program in the military health care systems that will provide clinical and non-medical resources to prevent and treat maternal mental health conditions.
In addition, the bill requires a communications campaign to ensure awareness of these resources among military service members and their families. Detailed reporting is also mandated, which will provide information that will enable us to improve the program over time.
In response to this hard-won victory Belsito said, “This is incredible news. It is more than what was in The MOMS Act. This goes to show the power of education and advocacy. We made our voices heard, and Congress responded.”
Since Belsito started leading national advocacy efforts for maternal mental health in 2016, four maternal mental health bills have been enacted and every one passed the first time it was introduced. This type of success is rare: most bills take seven years to become law. In addition, MMHLA has secured almost $70 million in federal funding to support the maternal mental health field.
“This is a huge success for any advocacy organization, especially one as new as MMHLA. People are often shocked when I tell them that MMHLA is only five years old and has just five full-time staff members,” says Griffen, MMHLA’s Executive Director. “I am so proud of all we are able to accomplish. We are a small but mighty team; we are all professionally and personally passionate about maternal mental health; and we remain nonpartisan in our approach. That is why we are able to get so much done.”
We are grateful to our champions in Congress — Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-6) and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), along with their co-sponsors Representative Don Bacon (R-NE-2) and Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) — for introducing this bill and leading as sponsors from the beginning.
We also appreciate the Chairs of the Armed Services Committees, especially Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL-3), who supported the inclusion of The MOMS Act in those critical decision-making committees.
We want to recognize our partners who helped make this happen: Center Road Solutions, who assisted with our policy advocacy efforts; Postpartum Support International and MochaMoms, who partnered with us for our annual Advocacy Day; the 100+ organizations who signed on to our letters to Congress; the many advocates who participated in Advocacy Day and our action alerts; and our Super Advocates — Tiara Flynn, Patience Riley, Olympia O’Neale-White, and Lakeatta Tonge – whose stories of lived experience helped push this legislative proposal over the finish line.
This policy victory for military mothers is a satisfying and exciting way to wrap up this year. Our collective advocacy has let military mothers and their families know that they are not alone.
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For media inquiries, contact MMHLA Senior Communications Manager, Mia Hemstad, at mhemstad@mmhla.org.
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Military, Veteran Women, and Maternal Mental Health Fact Sheet
