[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5858 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5858

  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, endometrial, and cervical cancer, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 29, 2023

 Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Mr. Morelle, and Mr. Jackson of Illinois) 
 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, endometrial, 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, Cervical, and Endometrial 
Cancer Awareness Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Ovarian 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) Currently there is no effective way to screen for 
        ovarian or endometrial cancer.
            (4) The main method used to screen for cervical cancer is 
        the Pap test which does not identify other gynecologic cancers.
            (5) Most women who develop invasive cervical cancer have 
        not had regular cervical cancer screening.
            (6) Black women are more likely to die from endometrial 
        cancer. Compared to White women, Black patients have an 80-
        percent higher mortality rate.
            (7) In 2018, Hispanic women had the highest endometrial 
        cancer rate among young reproductive-age women ages 35 to 39, a 
        rate 50 percent higher than that of White women.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) Raising awareness about ovarian, endometrial, and 
        cervical cancers.
            (2) Raising awareness about the importance of knowing one's 
        hereditary risk of developing cancer, including the 
        understanding of family history and the role of genetic testing 
        and counseling.
            (3) Raising awareness about the importance of screening for 
        cervical cancer.
            (4) Promotion of the potential value of risk-reducing 
        interventions for ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancer.
            (5) Ensuring that special emphasis is given to ovarian, 
        cervical, and endometrial 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, CERVICAL, AND 
              ENDOMETRIAL 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 endometrial gynecologic cancers''; and
            (2) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) Disadvantaged women.--Activities under the 
                national campaign under subparagraph (A) shall include 
                public service announcements under subparagraph (C) 
                targeted to disadvantaged 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, cervical, and 
endometrial cancers are the most deadly of the gynecologic cancers.
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