Actress Halle Berry, 57, took to Capitol Hill last week to lobby for bipartisan legislation aimed at increasing clinical research into — and de-stigmatizing — menopause. Sponsored by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.), the bill would allot a total of $275 million in federal funds for menopause-related initiatives.
$125 million would be set aside for clinical trials, and public health research into hormone therapy treatments used to manage symptoms like hot flashes. The other $150 million would be spent improving menopause detection and diagnosis among doctors, and educating the public on the long-stigmatized topic in women's health.
"I'm here doing this work because it has to be de-stigmatized. The shame has to be taken out of menopause. We have to talk about this very normal part of our life that happens. Our doctors can't even say the word to us, let alone walk us through the journey of what our menopausal years look like," Berry said. "I'm here as a citizen of the United States, as a woman who is demanding that our government give us what we need because we deserve it. We have been overlooked. We have been discarded for far too long."
In a video by the Associated Press, Berry described an encounter with her physician during her Washington D.C. appearance, during which her physician's reluctance to say the word "menopause" threatened to prevent the actress from receiving an accurate diagnosis.
"I finally realized he wasn't going to say it. So I thought 'OK, I have to do what no man can do. I have to say it.' I said, 'I'm in menopause! OK? And that's why I'm having this issue," Berry shouted.
