[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 17, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SUPPORTING UTERINE FIBROID RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. DONALD S. BEYER, JR.

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 17, 2022

  Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of a critical issue 
facing women's health that is often misunderstood, grossly underfunded, 
and has significant ripple effects on a woman's physical and mental 
health. This condition is uterine fibroids: noncancerous growths in the 
uterus that can cause severe bleeding, body pain, infertility and 
miscarriages, and several other consequences.
  Uterine fibroids affect 70 percent of White women and 80 percent of 
Black women in the U.S. during their lifetime. Each year, over 200,000 
women undergo hysterectomies for uterine fibroids, with Black women 
twice as likely to undergo this treatment to alleviate symptoms. We 
need to do more for these women. Other treatments exist, and we cannot 
allow a lack of awareness to put women through an unnecessary, 
lifechanging operation. We do not need to deprive women of their right 
to have children, to instruct them to sit home for six weeks and 
recover from such an invasive procedure, to put them at risk of 
complications.
  More must be done to research uterine fibroids, educate health care 
professionals, and raise awareness for patients. I am proud to 
cosponsor H.R. 2007, the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Uterine Fibroid Research 
and Education Act of 2021, as it would expand and coordinate uterine 
fibroid research at NIH and direct HHS to issue an awareness campaign 
and research Medicaid coverage of uterine fibroids. We are in Women's 
Health Month. In this Month, we reflect upon the important women in our 
lives, and how medical research must better represent them. I am proud 
to support the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Uterine Fibroid Research and 
Education Act of 2021 and urge my colleagues to join me. This condition 
cannot wait, women suffering with this condition cannot wait, and this 
bill cannot wait.

                          ____________________