I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION H. R. 10287 
To provide women with increased access to preventive and life-saving cancer 
screening. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 4, 2024 
Mr. GOMEZ (for himself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CARTER of 
Louisiana, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKE of New 
York, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DEGETTE, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mr. DELUZIO, Mrs. 
DINGELL, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GOLDMAN of New York, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. 
LEE of California, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MOULTON, 
Mrs. TORRES of California, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PETERS, Mr. KHANNA, 
Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. SCANLON, 
Ms. SEWELL, Mr. SOTO, Ms. STRICKLAND, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TONKO, Mr. 
VARGAS, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, and Mrs. WATSON 
COLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide women with increased access to preventive and 
life-saving cancer screening. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Jeanette Acosta Invest 
in Women’s Health Act of 2024’’. 
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SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
It is the purpose of this Act to provide women with 
increased access to preventive and life-saving cancer 
screening (including clinical breast exams and breast, cer-
vical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar cancer screen-
ing), as well as access to appropriate care and early detec-
tion (including via diagnostic testing and treatment and 
provider education and awareness of best clinical prac-
tices), provided by leading women’s health care providers 
who— 
(1) serve populations most at risk of lacking ac-
cess to preventive care; and 
(2) play an outsized role in the prevention and 
detection of cancer in order to serve the goal of in-
creasing access to quality health screenings, care, 
and services, reducing health care disparities and 
mortality rates among low-income women and 
women of color, decreasing health care spending, 
and expanding health literacy, access, and education 
about the benefits of regular preventive cancer 
screening for women. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer 
death in women under the age of 54, and the Amer-
ican Cancer Society recommends that women in 
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their 20s and 30s have a clinical breast exam at 
least every 3 years. 
(2) Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than 
any other cancer of the female reproductive system, 
but it accounts for only about 3 percent of all can-
cers in women. 
(3) The cancers that most frequently impact 
women include breast, uterine, ovarian, and cervical 
cancer, and there were 355,937 new cases of these 
cancers in 2019. 
(4) Rates of incidence and death for gynecologic 
cancers by race and ethnicity show that, while for 
some cancers, like ovarian cancer, the rates of inci-
dence and death are similar among all races, for 
other cancers, like cervical cancer, women of color 
have disproportionate incidence and mortality rates. 
While the incidence of uterine cancer is similar for 
White women and women of color, rates of death for 
uterine cancer are 2 times higher for Black women 
than for White women. 
(5) Cervical cancer incidence and mortality 
rates are higher for women living in rural and un-
derserved regions in the United States. Women liv-
ing in such areas face unique barriers in accessing 
reproductive health care services to prevent and 
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treat cervical cancer, including a lack of practicing 
gynecologists in rural areas and challenges around 
transportation to preventive and follow-up appoint-
ments. 
(6) Prevention and cancer screening are the 
best approaches to protecting women from cancer 
and ensuring early detection and life-saving treat-
ment. Many deaths from breast and cervical cancers 
could be avoided if cancer screening rates and diag-
nostic care and services increased among women at 
risk. Deaths from such cancers occur disproportion-
ately among women who are uninsured or under-
insured. 
(7) Due to enhanced screening, cervical cancer 
is now a much more preventable and treatable can-
cer. It is also highly curable when found and treated 
early. 
(8) Increased access to education; information, 
including information on the human papillomavirus 
vaccine; and preventive cancer screenings, resulting 
in timely and adequate treatment, increase women’s 
ability to survive cancer. 
(9) While more than 20 percent of cases of cer-
vical cancer are found in women over the age of 65, 
it becomes less likely that women are tested for cer-
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vical cancer ever or within the previous 5 years as 
their age increases. 
(10) Women’s health care providers that are 
primarily engaged in family planning services, such 
as Planned Parenthood health centers, provide nec-
essary screening tests, education, and information to 
women, especially women of color who face the high-
est risks of breast cancer and other gynecologic can-
cers. 
(11) Access to preventive gynecological screen-
ing is also critical for transgender men who have 
comparable rates of susceptibility to cervical cancer 
as cisgender women, but often have less access to 
preventive screenings. 
(12) Discrimination and racism in health care 
continues to contribute to disparate rates of gyneco-
logical cancer in non-White women. Black, Indige-
nous, and other women of color die at higher rates 
from cervical cancer than White women, even though 
fewer women overall die from cervical cancer. 
(13) Black women with endometrial cancer 
often receive surgery less often than White women 
and are more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced 
stage of the disease, contributing to disparities in 
mortality in Black women. 
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