This resolution supports designating September 2025 as National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month to highlight the urgent need for earlier detection, increased research funding, and equitable access to care for this deadly disease.
Rosa DeLauro
Representative
CT-3
This resolution officially supports the designation of September 2025 as National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. The goal is to draw critical attention to ovarian cancer, the deadliest gynecologic cancer, due to vague symptoms leading to late-stage diagnoses. By raising awareness, the measure aims to encourage earlier detection, improve access to care for underserved populations, and support increased federal research funding.
Congress Designates September 2025 as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Highlighting Disparities in Care
This resolution officially designates September 2025 as "National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month." While this is a symbolic move—it doesn't write checks or change laws—it’s Congress formally acknowledging a serious public health issue and throwing its weight behind the push for better awareness and research. Essentially, it’s giving a huge, deadly problem the national spotlight for 30 days.
Why the Spotlight Matters: The Late Diagnosis Problem
The core issue this resolution addresses is that ovarian cancer is a silent killer. The symptoms are often vague—think bloating or feeling full quickly—meaning about 80% of cases are not caught until they are advanced. The resolution points out that if the cancer is found early, the five-year survival rate is over 90%; if found late, that rate plummets. This is why awareness is critical: better public knowledge about subtle symptoms could literally save lives by prompting earlier doctor visits.
The Equity Gap in Care
Beyond general awareness, the resolution explicitly calls out disparities in care, which is a crucial detail for anyone focused on fair access to healthcare. It highlights that Black women, low-income women, and those in rural areas face significant barriers, leading to worse outcomes. For example, the resolution notes that Black women have a higher mortality rate (62%) compared to White women (54%). By designating this month, Congress is signaling that awareness efforts must specifically target these underserved communities to close the gap in survival rates.
Genetic Testing and the Research Push
For those who have a family history of cancer, this resolution has a direct message: talk to your doctor about genetic testing. The text stresses that approximately 20% of ovarian cancer cases are hereditary, often linked to BRCA gene changes, and recommends that genetic counseling should be standard practice. By calling this out, the resolution encourages healthcare providers to be more proactive during annual well-woman visits. Furthermore, it advocates for increased federal research funding, arguing that despite being the fifth-leading cause of cancer death among women, ovarian cancer research remains underfunded compared to its mortality rate. While the resolution itself doesn't allocate new funds, it creates the political pressure necessary to push for those funding decisions down the line.