The National Women’s Health Network Receives Activism Award

On Sunday, I was honored to accept an award on your behalf. The National
Women’s Health Network received the Grassroots Activism Award from the
National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) for our success in reducing the
incidence of breast cancer. I accepted on your behalf because it was the
Network’s longtime advocacy — including the activism of our members and
supporters — challenging widespread use of hormone therapy that led to this
important accomplishment. We changed the lives of 160,000 women who were
not diagnosed with breast cancer over the last 10 years because they avoided
unnecessary exposure to drugs that would have caused it.

When NBCC President Fran Visco presented the award, she commended the Network
for taking on this battle to change medical practice and demand research to
answer women’s questions about the health effects of hormones. “Against all
odds, challenging accepted wisdom, the National Women’s Health Network boldly
insisted on the collection of systematic evidence,” she said.

You remember what she was talking about: until just about 10 years ago, it was
routine practice to prescribe hormone therapy to women during menopause.
This was justified by claims that it would keep us young and healthy, despite
the lack of evidence supporting those claims and despite evidence suggesting
that hormone therapy might increase the risk of breast cancer. But the
Network knew that what the medical establishment believed had not been proven
by science. And we wouldn’t stop saying that – even when the response was
rolled eyes and smug looks.

Our campaign took more than a decade and ultimately succeeded because women
wouldn’t back down! As Fran said on Sunday, “By asking important questions,
insisting on finding the answers, and helping disseminate the information, the
National Women’s Health Network played an important role in changing medical
and patient behavior leading to the first significant reduction in breast
cancer incidence in the United States.” We insisted that the federal
government be accountable to women and invest in research to answer questions
important to our health – and they did by establishing the Women’s Health
Initiative (WHI).

Almost 10 years ago, in July 2002, the groundbreaking findings from the WHI
were released, showing that hormone therapy was causing serious health problems
for women – including breast cancer. The Network made sure this
information got to where it was needed – to the eyes and ears of women who
could finally make informed decisions about whether to use these drugs to help
themselves through the menopause transition.

I’m proud of what we accomplished together – preventing more than 160,000 cases
of breast cancer and counting! And I’m looking forward to celebrating
more of our successes when the July anniversary of the WHI comes around this
summer. Watch the Network’s websitein the coming weeks for more information about the upcoming anniversary…

Thank you,

Cindy Pearson

Executive Director