Finally, Legislative Help on How to Detect Fibroids

While in the middle of Fibroids Awareness Month, we know that many women don't know how to detect fibroids. Luckily, U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown wants to help change that fact. And she's starting her efforts by introducing the U-FIGHT Act, short for The Uterine Fibroid Intervention and Gynecological Health and Treatment Act. Her bill's goal? To empower the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants that facilitate early fibroid detection and intervention thanks to new research projects as well as awareness and educational programs.

Now, Rep. Brown was inspired by her own experience with fibroids, which she describes as being “like having an uninvited guest take over your body, month after month, for years.” In fact, fibroid symptoms like heavy bleeding and menstrual cramps prompted her to seek a hysterectomy. But, because she now knows that this surgery might have been avoidable with earlier interventions, she is hoping to speed up the process of how to detect (and treat) fibroids in this country.

How to Detect Fibroids Early

In explaining why she introduced this bill, Brown said that she was trying to fill a gap in fibroid care; in turn, she hopes she can reduce Black women's suffering. After all, she explains, “A lot of women, a lot of Black women, when there is so much pain, they think that this is just part of being a woman, a normal part of your period. Too many women delay medical care or are denied full treatment and care because they don’t know that the symptoms they’re suffering through aren’t normal.” But, with better education, she hopes that women will feel more comfortable talking about their symptoms, leading to early diagnoses and giving women more options. Finally, she says,"While not all fibroids require treatment, detection and intervention can reduce symptoms and complications, particularly among women of color, who are impacted by them at a higher rate.”

Joining Rep. Brown in the fight are more than 50 additional House of Representative members, along with The White Dress Project, The Fibroid Foundation, Black Health Matters, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Birthing Beautiful Communities, The Center for Black Health & Equity, University Hospitals, Cleveland Clinic, and MetroHealth, among other organizations. And, to show our solidarity with Rep. Brown and her legislation, our Dallas fibroid experts are also working to help women avoid hysterectomies with minimally invasive fibroid treatment options. To learn more about one such procedure, UFE in Dallas, you can simply request a consultation at the Dallas Fibroid Center.