By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer
She’d always been told that “Black people don’t get depressed,” so in trying to cope after giving birth, Jessica Walker put on a happy face for her family. Her young son, however, saw through the facade.
“He walked into the room and said, ‘Why are you always so sad?’” Walker said.
Walker, founder of Be Mom Aware and co-chair of the Sacramento Maternal Mental Health Collaborative, joined other mothers, advocates and policymakers at the Capitol this week for “From Pain to Power: A California Storytelling and Advocacy Day” to address the critical issue of perinatal mental health and advocate for systemic change.
The event kicked off Maternal Mental Health Month and centered around supporting Senate Bill 626, co-authored by state Sens. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas and Sabrina Cervantes.
“SB 626 is not just legislation – it’s a declaration that the lives of birthing people matter,” said Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles).
“Maternal health must be treated as a human right, not a privilege. This bill moves us toward dismantling the inequities that have left too many Black, Brown, Indigenous, and marginalized families behind,” she continued.
If signed into law, SB 626 would mandate consistent screening, diagnosis, and treatment for perinatal mental health conditions in accordance with guidelines set by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; require insurance coverage for at least one Food and Drug Administration-approved medication and one digital therapeutic; and establish care coordination, case management, and public reporting requirements to ensure follow-through and accountability.
Smallwood-Cuevas underscored the urgency of the issue.
“Nearly a quarter of maternal deaths are due to mental health conditions,” she said. “Over 85% of our women are suffering in silence without the care that they need and they deserve.”
Perinatal mental health conditions are the leading complication of pregnancy and childbirth, affecting 1 in 5 mothers and 1 in 10 fathers. Yet, more than 75% of such cases go untreated, costing California an estimated $2.4 billion annually. Black women and low-income families face the greatest barriers to care.
“Black mothers have long carried the heaviest burdens in a health care system that was never designed with us in mind,” said Gabrielle Brown, maternal health advocate with the California Coalition for Perinatal Mental Health and Justice and the Black Women for Wellness Action Project.
“At Black Women for Wellness, we see the disproportionate toll that perinatal mental health takes on Black families, but we also see the strength, brilliance, wisdom and organizing power that Black mamas bring to this work,” Brown continued. “SB 626 marks a critical step toward reimagining that system – one where every parent’s mental health is prioritized, every life is valued, and every family is given the support they deserve.”
Jade Ross, a member of the Los Angeles County Motherboard, had a postpartum experience during the pandemic.
“Around eight weeks postpartum, things shifted and the services ended,” she said. “The birthing center that I transferred from never followed up with me after my C-section. No one from the hospital that I was transferred to checked in with me.”
Ross touched on the extended nature of postpartum recovery and called for continued support.
“Postpartum isn’t cut-and-dry,” she said. “It’s not six weeks and you’re fully healed and recovered. If I’m honest, it took me nearly two years to start feeling like myself again.
“We deserve care that lasts beyond the first few weeks – care that doesn’t wait until crisis hits.”To learn more, visit ccpmhj.wordpress.com/paintopower.