On December 8, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act (H.R. 1245) after adopting a substitute amendment by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY). The House agreed to the Senate amendment by unanimous consent on December 9. The House initially approved the bill on November 14 (see The Source, 11/17/06). The bill also is known as Johanna’s Law after Johanna Silver Gordon, who lost her life to ovarian cancer. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law.
The measure authorizes $16.5 million for FY2007-2009 for programs that are aimed at increasing women’s health care providers’ awareness and knowledge of gynecologic cancers, and for a national public awareness campaign that would encourage women to discuss their risk of gynecologic cancer with their physician. It also requires the secretary of the Department Health and Human Services to submit a report to Congress describing the department’s strategies for improving public and professional awareness and knowledge of gynecological cancers and a follow-up report on the effectiveness of the awareness campaign.
