Mikulski Honors Women's Health Week

Press Release

Mikulski Honors Women's Health Week

During National Women's Health Week, Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today joined a bipartisan group of colleagues to introduce a resolution highlighting the importance of federally funded women's health programs and calling on women to observe the week by getting preventative screenings. A vote on the resolution is expected tonight.

"I came to Congress to change and save lives. I have fought to make sure that women have access to the information they want and the health care they need," said Senator Mikulski. "We have made great progress, but there is still a lot of work to be done. As we recognize National Women's Health Week, I vow to continue to fight to make sure that women are not left behind when it comes to their health."

The National Women's Health Week Resolution designates May 13-19, 2007, as a time to raise awareness on women's health issues and recognize the importance of programs that help all women access the care they need.

Earlier this year, Senator Mikulski introduced the Women's Health Office Act with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). The bill would make women's health offices in major federal agencies permanent, as well as authorize and strengthen women's health offices or officers at federal health agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services. Currently only two federal agencies - the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) - have a women's health office or officer authorized in law.

"Today, doctors, scientists and the American public know that women and men have different bodies and different health care needs. Despite these differences, men's health needs have set the standard for our health care system and our health care research agenda," said Senator Mikulski. "This legislation does more than protect the status quo. It keeps us moving forward on women's health and provides women's health offices a clear, consistent framework to make sure that men and women get equal benefit from federal investments in medical research and health care services."

Senator Mikulski, a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has been a champion for women's health throughout her career. Senator Mikulski and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) led the fight for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which was reauthorized and signed into law last month, and provides women without health insurance access to cancer screenings and treatment.

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