Johanna's Law

My friend Johanna is a documentary filmmaker and she was online today researching ovarian cancer for a possible film project. She happened to come across "Johanna's Law," which was named after Johanna Silver Gordon who died in 2000 from ovarian cancer. The law creates a federal campaign to educate women about the symptoms of ovarian cancer in order to save women's lives through earlier detection.

You can find more about Johanna's law here.

The press release is from the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance.
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Press Release

President Bush Signs ‘Johanna’s Law’ to Launch a National Gynecologic Awareness Campaign
President Bush has signed Johanna’s Law, landmark legislation that authorizes the development of a national gynecologic cancer awareness campaign. The federal campaign would educate American women and health professionals about the signs and symptoms of ovarian and other gynecologic cancers.

The President signed the law on January 12. Both houses of Congress unanimously approved Johanna’s Law: the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act late last year.
Johanna’s Law authorizes $16.5 million over a three-year period to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the awareness and education campaign. It is named for Johanna Silver Gordon, who died from ovarian cancer in 2000.

“This is an exciting development in our efforts to save women’s lives through earlier detection of ovarian cancer,” said Johanna’s sister, Sheryl Silver, who conceived Johanna’s Law and has worked tirelessly for its passage. “By educating the public about the risk factors and symptoms of gynecologic cancers, Johanna’s Law will help women recognize potentially dangerous symptoms and seek appropriate medical attention sooner.”

MOCA members can be proud of the work that has been done by the network of gynecologic cancer advocates throughout the country.” But our work is not done”, says Kathleen Gavin, MOCA’s Executive Director, “We need to continue to push for Congressional funding to make the provisions in Johanna’s Law come alive. There cannot be a national awareness campaign without the appropriation to fund it.”