I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2727 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for educational activities 
and research with respect to women’s pelvic floor health through the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes 
of Health. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 26, 2005 
Mr. SESSIONS (for himself, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. 
SANDERS, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 
educational activities and research with respect to wom-
en’s pelvic floor health through the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of 
Health. 
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 ‘‘Quality of Life for 
Women Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Women’s pelvic floor disorders are a group 
of common conditions that cause considerable dis-
ability and pain. 
(2) Such disorders include bladder and bowel 
dysfunction, including incontinence. Another such 
disorder is pelvic organ prolapse, which involves a 
downward shift of uterine or vaginal structures from 
their normal positions. Often these conditions coex-
ist. 
(3) Women’s pelvic floor disorders are ex-
tremely common and are barriers to healthy living. 
(4) Women often suffer from a broad overlap of 
all pelvic floor disorders, usually experiencing several 
disorders simultaneously. 
(5) Thirty percent of American women will suf-
fer from a form of urinary incontinence. 
(6) Eleven percent of women in the United 
States have surgery for urinary incontinence or pel-
vic organ prolapse during their lifetime, and close to 
one third will have a second surgery. Many more 
women are treated with nonsurgical techniques or 
remain untreated. 
(7) Of the 3 million vaginal deliveries that 
occur each year in the United States, 900,000 
women will develop symptomatic urinary inconti-
nence and a smaller number will develop pelvic 
organ prolapse and bowel incontinence. 
(8) An estimated $26.3 billion is spent annually 
to either treat or compensate for urinary inconti-
nence. 
(9) Many health care providers are not pre-
pared to evaluate urinary pelvic floor disorders, in-
cluding incontinence, and are unaware of treatment 
options. 
(10) To address the public health threat posed 
by women’s pelvic floor disorders, there is a need for 
the establishment of awareness and education pro-
grams directed at the public and primary-care pro-
viders, including the authorization of research fo-
cused on urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor 
disorders. Such programs will greatly help promote 
better care and treatment to those women afflicted 
with these disorders. 
SEC. 3. EDUCATION REGARDING WOMEN’S PELVIC FLOOR 
DISORDERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part P of title III of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following section:
‘‘SEC. 399O. EDUCATION REGARDING WOMEN’S PELVIC 
FLOOR DISORDERS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 
Administration and the Director of the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention, shall carry out a program 
to provide education regarding bladder and bowel dysfunc-
tion (including incontinence), pelvic organ prolapse, and 
other pelvic floor disorders to health professionals and the 
general public. Activities under such program shall be car-
ried out directly by the Secretary and through awards of 
grants or contracts to States, political subdivisions of 
States, and other public or nonprofit private entities. 
‘‘(b) CERTAIN INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall 
ensure that education under subsection (a) includes, at a 
minimum— 
‘‘(1) information describing the prevalence of 
pelvic floor disorders in women; and 
‘‘(2) information regarding treatment options 
for such disorders. 
‘‘(c) USE OF INTERNET.—The Secretary shall ensure 
that the means through which education under subsection 
(a) is provided includes the posting of information on the 
Internet site of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention. The Secretary shall ensure that, in the case of
health professionals, such means includes means in addi-
tion to the posting of information on such site. 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 
to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for 
each of the fiscal years 2006 through 2010.’’. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 
Congress that the Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention should establish a national reg-
istry for surgical treatment of pelvic floor disorders, espe-
cially procedures using new technology. 
SEC. 4. RESEARCH THROUGH NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF 
HEALTH. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title IV of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 284 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 409J. WOMEN’S PELVIC FLOOR DISORDERS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Directors of the National 
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 
and the National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development shall expand and intensify the activities of 
such Institutes with respect to women’s pelvic floor dis-
orders, including proposals for research on such disorders 
that are developed independently of solicitations by the 
National Institutes of Health for research proposals.
‘‘(b) NETWORKS.— 
‘‘(1) URINARY
INCONTINENCE
TREATMENT 
NETWORK.—The Director of the National Institute 
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, in 
consultation with the Director of the National Insti-
tute of Child Health and Human Development, shall 
provide for the continuing operation of the Urinary 
Incontinence Treatment Network. The Network was 
established pursuant to financial awards from such 
Institutes, and includes multiple continence treat-
ment centers and a single biostatistical coordinating 
committee. The Director shall ensure that not fewer 
than eight such treatment centers are in operation 
and may provide for the establishment of additional 
treatment centers, subject to appropriations Acts. 
‘‘(2) CLINICAL TRIALS NETWORK FOR FEMALE 
PELVIC DISORDERS.—The Director of the National 
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 
in consultation with the Director of the National In-
stitute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Dis-
eases, shall provide for the continuing operation of 
the Clinical Trials Network for Female Pelvic Dis-
orders. The Network was established pursuant to fi-
nancial awards from such Institutes, and includes 
multiple clinical sites and a single data coordinating
committee. The Director shall ensure that not fewer 
than seven such clinical sites are in operation and 
may provide for the establishment of additional clin-
ical sites, subject to appropriations Acts. 
‘‘(c) PEER REVIEW.—With respect to technical and 
scientific peer review under section 492, the Director of 
NIH shall ensure that groups that review research pro-
posals under this section include urogynecologists and 
other pelvic floor specialists.’’. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Congress commends— 
(A) the National Institute of Diabetes and 
Digestive and Kidney Diseases for its financial 
support of the Urinary Incontinence Treatment 
Network; 
(B) the National Institute of Child Health 
and Human Development for its financial sup-
port of the Clinical Trials Network for Female 
Pelvic Disorders; 
(C) the successful collaboration of such In-
stitutes with respect to the Networks; and 
(D) each of such Networks for the re-
search it is conducting toward improving wom-
en’s pelvic health.
(2) CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.—It is the sense of the 
Congress that the Directors of the National Institute 
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and 
the National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development should— 
(A) increase the size, scope, number, and 
funding for multidisciplinary research through 
centers and clinical sites of the Networks re-
ferred to in paragraph (1); 
(B) encourage industry relationships in 
women’s pelvic floor health related research; 
(C) recruit established scientists from 
other relevant areas (such as cardiac or gastro-
intestinal physiology, cell signaling, biomechan-
ical engineering, genomics, and proteomics) to 
apply their work to the urinary tract and incon-
tinence by encouraging collaborative efforts be-
tween basic and clinical scientists; 
(D) increase research funding for studies 
that use cellular and molecular techniques to 
examine the basic mechanisms of bladder and 
urethral interactions that create urinary con-
tinence and incontinence; 
(E) support research to develop appro-
priate animal models of urinary incontinence;
(F) develop novel techniques (both invasive 
and noninvasive) for measuring neural, mus-
cular (striated and smooth), and vascular func-
tion relating to pelvic floor health; 
(G) identify risk factors for pelvic floor dis-
orders and urinary incontinence related to 
childbirth and aging so that prevention meas-
ures and improved disease-specific treatment 
can be developed; 
(H) initiate research to develop preventive 
and therapeutic approaches to urinary inconti-
nence that are sensitive to gender, race, and 
culture, and develop the means of measuring 
outcomes for treatments in these varied set-
tings; 
(I) develop a national data registry and tis-
sue bank of people suffering from incontinence 
to meet the needs of researchers for well-char-
acterized tissue samples; and 
(J) research the relationship between the 
anatomic changes of pelvic organ prolapse and 
the functional derangement’s commonly seen in 
association with them, including voiding dys-
function and incontinence.
SEC. 5. INCLUSION OF WOMEN’S PELVIC FLOOR HEALTH IN 
NATIONAL CHILDREN’S STUDY. 
The Director of the National Institute of Child 
Health and Human Development shall include women’s 
pelvic floor health as one of the matters studied in the 
prospective cohort study regarding child health and 
human development that is being conducted under section 
1004(b) of the Children’s Health Act of 2000 (Public Law 
106–310; 114 Stat. 1130) and is known as the National 
Children’s Study. 
SEC. 6. CONSULTATION. 
In carrying out this Act, the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall consult with the American 
Urogynecologic Society and such other qualified profes-
sional and patient organizations as the Secretary deter-
mines to be appropriate. 
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