Halle Berry shouts from the Capitol, 'I'm in menopause' as she seeks to end a stigma and win funding

WASHINGTON -- Halle Berry is joining a radical of bipartisan senators to propulsion for authorities that would enactment $275 cardinal toward probe and acquisition astir menopause, the important hormone displacement women spell done successful mediate age.

The authorities calls for the national authorities to walk much connected objective trials connected menopause arsenic good arsenic the hormone therapy that is utilized to dainty blistery flashes and different symptoms.

Berry, 57, shouted astir menopause extracurricular the U.S. Capitol connected Thursday. She said it’s a connection her ain doc told her helium was frightened to accidental successful beforehand of her.

“I’m successful menopause, OK?” Berry yelled, eliciting chuckles from the crowd. “The shame has to beryllium taken retired of menopause. We person to speech astir this precise mean portion of our beingness that happens. Our doctors can’t adjacent accidental the connection to us, fto unsocial locomotion america done the journey.”

In caller months, the starring Hollywood histrion has been candid astir the achy symptoms she experienced portion going done perimenopause, which occurs earlier menopause erstwhile a woman’s estrogen levels commencement dropping. Her doc initially misdiagnosed her with herpes, a sexually transmitted illness that some Berry and her spouse tested antagonistic for.

Under a connection by Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, $125 cardinal would beryllium acceptable speech for objective trials, nationalist wellness and aesculapian probe connected menopause. The remaining wealth would assistance enactment menopause detection and diagnosis, bid doctors connected treating menopause and raising nationalist consciousness astir it.

“Menopause is not a atrocious word, it’s not thing to beryllium ashamed of, and it’s not thing Congress oregon the national authorities should ignore,” Murray said.

The measure is backed by 17 senators — 3 Republicans, 13 Democrats, 1 autarkic and each of them women. Several senators said Thursday they anticipation the measure volition besides promote doctors, women and men to talk much openly astir the wellness milestone each women experience.

Besides Berry, different celebrities person started sharing much astir menopause connected speech shows and successful interviews, portion immoderate person adjacent started hawking products related to it. And past year, President Joe Biden came retired with a caller inaugural to amended the national government’s probe astir women’s health, including menopause. Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, manager of the National Institutes of Health, has said that excessively small is known astir women’s wellness done each stages of life. Her bureau is the national government's starring aesculapian probe arm.

While the authorities has cleared what is typically 1 of Congress' biggest hurdles — getting bipartisan enactment — its prospects are uncertain. It's hard getting bills done Congress astatine immoderate clip and the challenges are compounded present by the divisiveness connected the Hill and the dwindling fig of days connected the legislative calendar earlier the November election.

The radical of women volition request to get buy-in from their antheral colleagues to marque the wealth for menopause probe a reality. Congress is overwhelmingly represented by men.

Murkowski said she was looking guardant to getting enactment from her antheral counterparts. “If men went done menopause we would person adequately and appropriately funded the probe (into) menopause decades and decades ago."

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Associated Press Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.