The Honorable Donna F. Edwards
Introduction of Women’s Heart Health Resolution
June 11, 2014
Mr. Speaker, I rise today as an original cosponsor of a resolution that recognizes the importance of providing basic, preventative heart screenings for women wherever they seek primary care. I want to thank my colleague, the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), for joining with me to introduce this resolution.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for women in the United States, causing one in four deaths among women each year. For the past three decades, the number of deaths from heart disease for women has exceeded those of men.
I am concerned that heart disease claims the lives of more than 400,000 women each year. Nearly half of all African-American women have some form of cardiovascular disease. Among Latinas, awareness that heart disease is the leading cause of death is the lowest, at 34 percent.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for us to bring awareness to the burden of heart disease, so we can reduce heart disease among women in the United States by ensuring that, wherever women seek care, they get basic, preventive heart health screening for heart disease.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to cosponsor this important and timely resolution.
