Elizabeth Taylor was also one in three women

   

Elizabeth Taylor died Wednesday, March 23, 2011. The media remains focused on her legendary life, but Elizabeth Taylor was also 1 out of 3 women who was hysterectomized, and 1 out of 3 women who died from heart disease. Women who undergo hysterectomy before the age of 50 have a 3X greater incidence of heart disease than women who do not undergo hysterectomy. Heart disease is the number one cause of death among women in the U.S. (CDC, Heart Disease Facts and Statistics, 2008).

An extraordinary, talented actress, Taylor was best known for her hot, steamy sexy roles in films like Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer and Cleopatra. It is notable the list of “Key films in the career of Elizabeth Taylor” published by Reuters today ended with two films, “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Reflections in a Golden Eye”, both released in 1967, one year before she underwent a hysterectomy. Taylor continued to be headline news long after her steamy roles ended, which was soon after her hysterectomy in 1968.

Elizabeth Taylor had a back problem due to an accident when she was a child. The back problems she suffered with became more prominently referred to after the hysterectomy. It is not surprising since back pain is reported as one of the most common problems women experience after hysterectomy. Taylor also developed many of the other problems known to be caused by the surgery, including the need for three hip replacements.

The long, passionate love affair between Taylor and Richard Burton ended in divorce two years after the surgery. The loss of sexual feeling commonly experienced by hysterectomized women might, in part, explain why their marriage ended. They remarried, and again it ended in divorce. Not long after the surgery it was often reported that she was addicted to drugs, alcohol, and physically unable to work.

Taylor died this week, and her fame will follow her beyond the pale. We will never know what this iconic figures career and life might have been if she had not been hysterectomized at age 36. She was extraordinary, but she was also an ordinary woman who experienced great difficulties in a very public way.

It was as if after Elizabeth Taylor’s hysterectomy life was frozen, like watching a film that suddenly hangs on one frame.

New study shows link between female castration and lung cancer

Ovary Removal May Play a

Role in Lung Cancer

A new Canadian study reports that castration (removal of the female gonads, the ovaries) almost doubles a younger woman's risk for developing lung cancer. "It's possible that vulnerability to lung cancer is caused by early and sudden decrease in estrogen levels or potentially long-term use of hormone replacement therapy, and further research is needed to explore these hypotheses." said study co-author Jack Siemiatycki, a professor at the University of Montreal's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine.

The report was published online in the International Journal of Cancer in May 2009. It is based on a study of 999 patients from hospitals in Montreal including 422 women with lung cancer. "A major strength of this study was the detailed smoking information which we obtained from all study participants," said study co-author Anita Koushik. "This is important because of the role of smoking in lung cancer and because smokers generally have lower estrogen levels than non-smokers."

"Although smoking is the dominant cause of lung cancer, we know other factors can play an important role in enhancing the impact of tobacco carcinogens." Koushik added "This research suggests that, in women, hormonal factors may play such a role."

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A note from Nora W. Coffey

This important discovery should alert every woman and man to the fact that removal of the female organs creates a higher risk of life threatening health problems including but not limited to heart disease, stroke, dementia and lung cancer. Although not considered a "health" or life threatening problem, the loss of sexual feeling and loss of vitality associated with sexual energy are serious adverse effects of hysterectomy and/or castration. There are many more permanent consequences that have either not been discovered, or if known, they have been denied or not reported.

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.