[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 167 (Thursday, December 16, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H8541-H8543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1330
             GYNECOLOGIC CANCER EDUCATION AND AWARENESS ACT

  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in 
the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 2941) to reauthorize and enhance 
Johanna's Law to increase public awareness and knowledge with respect 
to gynecologic cancers.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:

       Senate amendment:
       Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

     SECTION 1. REAUTHORIZATION AND ENHANCEMENT OF JOHANNA'S LAW.

       (a) In General.--Section 317P(d) of the Public Health 
     Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b-17(d)(4)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (4), by inserting after ``2009'' the 
     following: ``and $18,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 
     2012 through 2014''; and
       (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (6).
       (b) Consultation With Nonprofit Gynecologic Cancer 
     Organizations.--Section 317P(d) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 247b-
     17(d)), as amended by subsection (a), is further amended by 
     inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
       ``(4) Consultation with nonprofit gynecologic cancer 
     organizations.--In carrying out the national campaign under 
     this subsection, the Secretary shall consult with nonprofit 
     gynecologic cancer organizations, with a mission both to 
     conquer ovarian or other gynecologic cancer and to provide 
     outreach to State and local governments and communities, for 
     the purpose of determining the best practices for providing 
     gynecologic cancer information and outreach services to 
     varied populations.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
California (Mrs. Capps) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. CAPPS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2941, a bill to 
reauthorize Johanna's Law. I would also like to acknowledge the hard 
work of the bill's sponsor, Representative DeLauro, on this 
legislation. She has been a tireless supporter of this program and a 
staunch advocate for this reauthorization.
  The bill reauthorizes an existing CDC program to educate women and 
health care providers about the detection and treatment of 
gynecological cancers. Gynecological cancers are diagnosed in over 
80,000 American women annually and they kill nearly 28,000. The program 
educates women so that they can recognize the warning signs of 
gynecological cancers, because when such cancers are found early, 
treatment is most effective. The program also connects women to patient 
support services and key national organizations which are fighting 
gynecological cancers.
  I know that many of my colleagues here today are cosponsors of the 
bill, and I urge you all in joining me in supporting it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TERRY. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise in favor of H.R. 2941, otherwise known as 
Johanna's Law reauthorization. It would reauthorize Johanna's Law, 
which was first passed by Congress at the end of the 2006 session and 
directed the Health and Human Services Department to carry out a 
national campaign to increase awareness of gynecological cancer.
  In 2006, 76,515 women were told that they had gynecological cancer 
and 27,848 died from that cancer. H.R. 2941 would authorize the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention to continue the nationwide campaign 
which is entitled ``Inside Knowledge: Get the Facts About Gynecologic 
Cancer.'' The campaign is designed to increase the awareness and 
knowledge of health care providers and women with respect to 
gynecological cancers.
  Cancer screenings are effective when they can detect the disease 
early. It is widely known that the earlier the disease is caught, the 
greater chance a person has to survive it. However, in the group of 
gynecological cancers, only cervical cancer has a screening test that 
can detect the cancer in its earliest stages. It is therefore important 
that both individual women and their physicians remain aware of the 
disease and recognize signals that could lead to an earlier detection 
of the disease. That is why I urge all of my colleagues to support 
Johanna's Law.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from Indiana (Mr. Burton).
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Ovarian cancer, if it is caught early, has a 93-percent chance for 5-
year survival for women with this terrible cancer, and if they don't 
catch it early, only 27 percent of the ladies that get it have a chance 
of survival.
  This bill was named after Johanna Silver Gordon, who went to the 
doctor regularly for her physical. Her doctor missed the ovarian cancer 
that she had, and, like many women, because the doctor either 
misdiagnosed or missed it, she passed away, I believe in December of 
2006.
  This was brought to my attention by a very good friend, Ms. Kolleen 
Stacy, in Indiana, who had gynecological cancer. She fought it for many 
years and

[[Page H8542]]

she was a champion of Johanna's Law, and she brought to the attention 
of many people, including myself, the problems that women have by not 
knowing the signs of gynecological cancer problems, in particular 
ovarian cancer.
  It is extremely important that this be caught early. For that reason, 
that is why this law is so important, because it gives women the 
opportunity to find out about the problems they may face early so that 
their survival rate can be increased.
  I want to thank Darrell Issa, as well as our Democrat colleague who 
sponsored this bill, for bringing this to the floor a couple of years 
ago. I am very happy it is being reauthorized today.
  What Johanna's Law does is it provides a cancer-specific fact sheet 
about gynecological cancers in both English and Spanish. It provides a 
comprehensive gynecological cancer brochure. It provides formative 
research and concept testing using focus groups to better understand 
the target audience.
  It provides materials for primary care and health care professionals. 
And that is extremely important, because many physicians don't catch 
it. It is not because they don't want to; it is because the signs have 
not been very clearly defined and they haven't seen it. And it is 
extremely important that these materials for primary care and health 
care professionals be provided.
  It provides print and broadcast public service announcements for 
women so that they can see on television maybe some of the symptoms 
that they have that might be leading to a gynecological-type cancer.
  It also provides that all materials that have been created through 
Johanna's Law be sent to television, radio, and printout lists 
throughout the country. The CDC is tracking and airing the PSAs and 
audience impressions, and the CDC is also reaching out to groups 
encouraging the use of these materials.
  As my colleague has stated, a lot of women have lost their lives or 
had their lives shortened because they didn't know the symptoms of 
gynecological cancer or ovarian cancer early enough.
  This is a very important piece of legislation. I know that there are 
not a lot of people here speaking about it today, but women across the 
country who have suffered from various forms of cancer understand the 
import of legislation like this.
  I would like to thank my colleagues in the Senate and my colleagues 
here in the House for bringing this legislation to the floor. Once 
again, I am very proud to be a cosponsor of it, and I urge its 
adoption.
  Mr. TERRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I had intended to yield to the bill's 
author, our colleague from Connecticut, Representative DeLauro, but 
then her schedule precluded her from attending this hearing. So I am 
going to read her statement into the Record on her behalf.
  Every hour, approximately 10 women in the United States are diagnosed 
with a gynecologic cancer such as ovarian, cervical, and uterine 
cancers. Each year, we lose over 26,000 of our mothers, our sisters, 
our daughters, and our friends to one of these terrible cancers. This 
is a tragedy.
  Research shows that many of those deaths could be prevented if more 
women knew the risk factors and recognized the early symptoms of 
gynecologic cancers so that they could discuss them with their doctors. 
Some cancers have a dramatic difference in likely survival when they 
are diagnosed early. Ovarian cancer, as my colleague just referred to, 
for example, has just about a threefold difference in survivability 
between the early time it can be diagnosed and the later time it is 
often diagnosed.
  In 2007, Johanna's Law, the Gynecologic Cancer Education and 
Awareness Act, was enacted.

                              {time}  1340

  This important legislation created a gynecologic cancer education and 
awareness campaign which is administered by the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, CDC, to raise awareness of the five main types 
of gynecologic cancer: cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar.
  Johanna's Law was originally authorized for 3 years, and H.R. 2941 
reauthorizes the program for another 3 years. This bill reauthorizes a 
national awareness and education program to ensure that those diagnoses 
are made as early as possible so that women can have a higher chance of 
survival and authorizes, in addition, funding of $18 million over the 
3-year period. The bill has more than 150 bipartisan cosponsors in the 
House. It was passed by unanimous voice vote in late September, and the 
Senate passed revised language on December 10. It is important that we 
reauthorize Johanna's Law in this Congress to continue building upon 
the CDC's efforts to educate women and their health care providers.
  In conclusion, our colleague Ms. DeLauro wants to thank Congressman 
Darrell Issa; Dan Burton, our colleague who has just spoken; and Sandy 
Levin for their committed leadership on this issue.
  Ms. DeLauro. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of an important 
bill that enjoys strong and consistent bipartisan support--the 
reauthorization of Johanna's Law through 2014. This is an important 
vote. It will help to raise awareness of the warning signs of ovarian 
cancer.
  Better awareness is one of the most critical tools we have. Research 
shows that many deaths from these diseases could be prevented if more 
women and health care providers knew the risk factors, and recognized 
the early symptoms of gynecologic cancers.
  Better awareness might have helped Johanna Silver Gordon--in whose 
honor the bill is named. Johanna lost her life to ovarian cancer 
despite being a health-conscious woman who visited the gynecologist 
regularly. Like many women, Johanna had symptoms and clinical signs of 
ovarian cancer that were missed by both her and her healthcare 
provider. And her sister, Sheryl Silver, was determined never to let 
another sister, mother, daughter or friend go through the same thing.
  This bill is a big step in that fight. It reauthorizes the existing 
CDC program that educates women and their health care providers about 
the symptoms of ovarian and other gynecological cancers. Put simply, it 
will save lives.
  I want to thank Congressmen Darrell Issa, Dan Burton, and Sandy Levin 
for their committed leadership on this issue. And I urge my colleagues 
to vote for this legislation today. As Johanna's family can tell you, 
it really will make a difference.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge the passage of H.R. 2941, to 
renew ``Johanna's Law'' to increase public awareness and knowledge of 
gynecological cancers. I am pleased to have introduced this important 
bill with Representatives DeLauro, Issa, and Burton. Johanna's Law 
established a national public information campaign to educate women and 
health care providers about the risk factors and early warning signs of 
gynecologic cancers. This bill before the House carries on that 
important life-saving work by extending funding of Johanna's Law from 
2012 to 2014.
  The law was named after Michigan resident Johanna Silver Gordon, a 
loving mother and dedicated public school teacher, who, despite 
visiting her doctor regularly, was blindsided by a diagnosis of late-
stage ovarian cancer, learning only after her diagnosis that the 
symptoms she had been experiencing were common symptoms of that 
disease. Despite the best efforts of her physicians, tragically, 
Johanna lost her life to ovarian cancer 3\1/2\ years after being 
diagnosed.
  Johanna's story is far too common. Although it has been 10 years 
since she died of ovarian cancer, and 4 years since Congress first 
passed this important legislation, each year over 71,000 women in the 
U.S. are diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer and over 26,000 women are 
lost to one of these serious cancers. Many of those deaths could be 
prevented if more women knew and recognized the early symptoms of 
gynecologic cancers and received prompt treatment.
  Today we continue to build on the work we began with the passage of 
the first Johanna's Law 4 years ago. Our best weapon against 
gynecological cancers is early detection. A woman's chance of survival 
is dramatically improved when the gynecological cancer is diagnosed 
early. Ovarian cancer causes more deaths in women than any other 
gynecological cancer; however, it has a 93 percent survival rate if 
detected in Stage One, but only a 20 percent survival rate if detected 
in Stage Three or Four.
  Right now, awareness, education, early diagnosis, and treatment are 
the most effective weapons we have in our war against gynecological 
cancers. I urge my colleagues to support Johanna's Law so we can 
prevail in our battle against these terrible cancers that cut short the 
lives of our mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, partners and friends. 
I urge passage of this very important legislation.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H8543]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps) that the House suspend the 
rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill, H.R. 2941.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the Senate amendment was concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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