HERS Honored With Women's Way Award

Amid the applause of 1,100 guests, the Women's Way 32nd Annual Powerful Voice Awards were presented in Philadelphia on May 6, 2009. The awards honored the accomplishments of Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR) Director Teresa White, community organizer and HIV/AIDS awareness advocate Waheedah Shabazz-El, and women's rights advocate and activist, Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services (HERS) Foundation President Nora W. Coffey.

Women's Way Executive Director Melissa Weiler Gerber says of the award, it "serves as a call to action to women everywhere, encouraging us to increase women's influence in the media and make a difference in the community."

Women's Way is the first major women's organization to publicly acknowledge the importance of educating women about the damaging effects of hysterectomy and the lifelong functions of the female organs. The award is recognition that hysterectomy is one of the most serious health issues facing women today. As demonstrated in Nora's book THE H WORD, co-authored by Rick Schweikert, the hysterectomy rate is on the rise, and every woman with a uterus is at risk.

Women's Way presented HERS with an excellent opportunity to talk about the issues, but the award presenter was a pharmaceutical company representative. Nora's first thought was, "I can't accept an award presented by someone from the industry." HERS is an independent women's health education organization with a policy of not accepting support from the medical industry.

"Because there was no opportunity to address this issue publicly at the banquet," Nora said, "in keeping with HERS' mandate of education, I presented a copy of THE H WORD to the pharmaceutical rep as she handed me the award. That way, she could educate herself and her pharma colleagues about these issues."

Since 1977, Women's Way has been the country's oldest and largest women's funding federation. This award brings into focus the imperative to provide women with the information required for hysterectomy informed consent.

We welcome any ideas you might have about getting exposure for HERS and THE H WORD. Each time someone reads the book, it's another person who has been educated about these issues and someone who may educate others and join us in changing the law. Each time the book is in the media, in a bookstore, on a blog, or on a library shelf, the number of people who have access to this vital information is magnified many times over.

This is an opportunity to put hysterectomy information into the hands of those who need it...to save a girl, to save a woman, to save a family. To prevent hysterectomy from becoming the legacy of another generation of women and girls.

Hysterectomy and the Loss of Uterine Orgasm

Most women are taught little about the functions of the female organs beyond iinformation about menstruation and pregnancy. The uterus and ovaries are the female hormone-responsive reproductive sex organs. The female organs are internal and their functions are not visible. Most women and men know more about the functions of male reproductive sex organs than female female reproductive sex organs because the organs are external and visible.

One of the common myths perpetuated by doctors that has become folklore is that the female organs are only needed by women who want to have children and that after they complete their family they no longer need these organs. Nothing could be further from the truth. The uterus is a hormone responsive reproductive sex organ that supports the bladder and the bowel. It functions all of a woman's life. Many women are sexually active and experience uterine orgasm into their 80's.

The ovaries are the female gonads. They produce hormones all of a woman's life. The pre-menopausal ovary produce more estrogens than androgens, and the post-menpausal ovary produces more androgens and less estrogens. Removal of the ovaries is castration.

The uterus provides support to the bladder and the bowel. When a hysterectomy is performed the support to the bladder is compromised, and the bowel drifts down to take up the space where the uterus had been. The vagina is shortened, made into a closed pocket. Because the uterus separates the bladder from the bowel, when the uterus is removed the bowel drifts down and takes up the space where the uterus had been. When there is stool in the bowel it presses against the bladder and down into the top of the vagina. This would not have been possible with the uterus intact.

In a HERS Foundation survey 99.7% of women reported that the doctor who performed the surgery did not inform them of the consequences or they were lied to when they asked if they would experience any changes. Most often doctors tell women "You'll be better than ever" and "Sex will be the same or better".

Because doctors are not informing women of the adverse effects of hysterectomy the HERS Foundation has launched a campaign to compel every doctor to provide HERS short new educational video "Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs" to every woman before she is asked to sign a Hysterectomy Consent Form.

SIGN THE PETITON at www.ipetitions.com/petition/saynotilyouknow or by visit www.hersfoundation.org and click on "Petition". It's every woman's right to know.