A new bill aimed at postpartum depression.

Education and treatment is headed to the full Senate.

Senate Bill 135 would require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to include on its website information on postpartum depression, along with a postpartum assessment tool.

It would also require the Cabinet to develop a program focused on preventing and treating postpartum depression.

Supporters of the bill said new mothers need support and giving them and their families greater access to information on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders or prime ads can mean the difference between life and death.

Kentucky, sadly, has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country, and we are looking to get upstream of that.

We really want to work towards a solution.

In 2017, nearly half of the maternal deaths in Kentucky were related to substance use disorder.

We believe that over 90% of those deaths are preventable.

Left untreated, people have been linked to increased medical costs, increased risk for inappropriate medical care.

They are linked to increased prevalence of child abuse, neglect, intimate partner violence and divorce.

People struggling with mental illness are more likely to discontinue breastfeeding, filed for disability or unemployment, and experienced financial hardships.

There is also a correlation between PM ads and adverse effects on early brain development in children, and tragically, PM ads have been linked directly to infanticide, homicide and suicide.

The measure passed the Senate Families and Children Committee by a unanimous vote.