By Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) will introduce a bill to award federal grants to study uterine fibroids as one of several competing bipartisan measures to support study of the noncancerous growths common in women of childbearing age.
The bill would establish a new grant program of unspecified amount and duration to support research on early detection of and intervention for uterine fibroids, including screening procedures.
Alsobrooks is also a cosponsor on a separate bipartisan measure, introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), that would carve out $30 million over four years to study uterine fibroids, although not necessarily through a direct grant program.
A spokesperson for the Maryland senator’s office said the two “approaches need to work in tandem — supporting direct research dollars, while also empowering the [Health and Human Services] Secretary to support innovative programs across the country that can reach patients where they are in community.”
Eligible topics under the grant program would include disparities in pain control in surgery for uterine fibroids, as well as conditions like Asherman’s Syndrome, where scar tissue builds up inside the uterus. Alsbrooks and Lummis’s bill would also support programs to raise awareness for uterine fibroids.
“For too long, uterine fibroids have plagued women. We need to invest in research, raise public awareness, and develop programs for early treatment,” Alsobrooks said in a statement.
“I am proud to reach across the aisle and partner with Senator Alsobrooks to ensure women in Wyoming and across the country suffering from uterine fibroids no longer suffer in silence,” Lummis said in a statement. “Our bipartisan legislation will expand access to screenings and intervention, providing hope to the millions of women who endure this painful condition.”
The push to study the health condition, estimated to affect 40 percent to 80 percent of women, comes after the Trump administration has pushed to cancel research grants related to “diversity, equity and inclusion,” health equity and other topics it deemed to be wasteful.
The Department of Health and Human Services has pulled at least two grants this year directly studying uterine fibroids, including a $1.5 million study at the University of Texas and a doctoral student’s fellowship at Columbia University.
The bill, officially called the Uterine Fibroid Intervention and Gynecological Health Treatment (U-FIGHT) Act, also has a companion in the House introduced by Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) as part of a larger legislation package on women’s health. Brown’s group of bills includes a law to study the relationship between hair straighteners and uterine cancer.
Lummis is the first Republican senator to support the U-FIGHT Act.
The bill has also won the support of actress Lupita Nyong’o, who was diagnosed with uterine fibroids and had surgery to remove them.