Bipartisan women introduce Senate bill to boost menopause research, training
May 2 (UPI) -- A bipartisan group of women senators on Thursday introduced legislation to boost federal menopause research and expand training and awareness.
Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Patty Murray, D-Wash., was joined by Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., in introducing the Advancing Menopause and Mid-Life Women's Health Act.
The bill would authorize $275 million a year over five years to support federal research related to menopause and mid-life women's health.
It also would authorize $10 million per year over the same time period to support public health promotion activities such as improving healthcare delivery and expanding access to mental-health care services for women experiencing perimenopause and menopausal symptoms.
The bill also would authorize $10 million per year to improve professional training resources for health care providers on menopause and mid-life women's health through a new grant program.
"The bottom line is: For too long, menopause has been overlooked, underinvested in, and left behind," Murray said at a press conference. "It is well past time to stop treating menopause like some kind of secret and start treating it like the major, mainstream public health issue it is."
Actor Halle Berry joined senators Thursday to announce the new legislation. Berry, who has been vocal about her own experience going through menopause, has advocated for the "shame" to be taken out of menopause.
"It has to be destigmatized," she said. "We have to talk about this very normal part of our life that happens."
Murray said that, when she first came to Congress, women's issues such as childcare, paid leave, workplace harassment, "were an afterthought at best -- or worst just ignored."
"We've come a long way -- both in terms of women in Congress, and in terms of giving these issues the attention they deserve," she said, noting many women's needs, like menopause, still go ignored.
Murry said the current goal is to get as many co-sponsors on the bill as possible before bringing it to Senate leadership.
Murkowski said the effort gained traction last year after a meeting with Berry at the Capitol.
"Why has it become this issue that seems to be a little taboo?" Murkowski said. "Why have we not allowed ourselves to really look at the full life spectrum of women?"
Co-sponsors of the bill include Senators Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.
