[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3161 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3161

  To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for activities to 
increase the awareness and knowledge of health care providers and women 
  with respect to ovarian and cervical cancer, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 12, 2011

Ms. Velazquez introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for activities to 
increase the awareness and knowledge of health care providers and women 
  with respect to ovarian and cervical cancer, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ovarian and Cervical Cancer 
Awareness Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Ovarian and cervical cancers are among the most 
        destructive gynecological forms of cancer.
            (2) Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer 
        of the female reproductive system.
            (3) The main methods used to screen for ovarian cancer are 
        pelvic exams, ultrasounds, Pap smears, and blood tests such as 
        cancer antigen-125 (``CA-125'').
            (4) Most women who develop invasive cervical cancer have 
        not had regular cervical cancer screening.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) Raising awareness about ovarian and cervical cancers.
            (2) Raising awareness about the importance (especially for 
        those women who have a family history of cancer or are 
        otherwise at higher risk) of frequent consultation with a 
        physician and the possibility of screening (through tests such 
        as pelvic exams, ultrasounds, Pap smears, and blood tests such 
        as cancer antigen-125) for ovarian, cervical, and other 
        gynecologic cancer.
            (3) Promotion of early detection methods for ovarian and 
        cervical cancer.
            (4) Ensuring that special emphasis is given to ovarian and 
        cervical cancer under the public awareness campaign carried out 
        by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under section 
        317P(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b-17(d); 
        commonly referred to as ``Johanna's Law'').

SEC. 4. INCREASING PUBLIC AWARENESS OF OVARIAN AND CERVICAL CANCER.

    Section 317P(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b-
17(d); commonly referred to as ``Johanna's Law'') is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ``with respect to 
        gynecologic cancers'' and inserting ``with respect to ovarian, 
        cervical, and other gynecologic cancers''; and
            (2) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) Low-income women.--Activities under the 
                national campaign under subparagraph (A) shall include 
                public service announcements under subparagraph (C) 
                targeted to low-income women.''.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that funding by the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention of gynecologic cancer education and 
awareness efforts should reflect the fact that ovarian and cervical 
cancers are the most deadly of the gynecologic cancers.
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