Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) reintroduced the Jeanette Acosta Invest in Women’s Health Act of 2024, legislation that would increase the availability of preventive, life-saving cancer screenings at safety net health care providers like Planned Parenthood. The bill would create new grant and pilot programs to expand access to preventive services and screenings for breast and gynecological cancers—especially for low-income women and women of color—and train health care providers in providing high-quality cancer screening, early detection, and follow-up care.

Jeanette Acosta—a native of California’s 34th Congressional District—was a fierce women’s health advocate, a former congressional staffer, and a White House intern in the Obama administration. In 2017, she lost her battle with cervical cancer at the age of 32.

"Despite battling cancer herself, Jeanette Acosta never stopped selflessly fighting to ensure that every woman was able to access preventative health care," said Rep. Gomez. "Jeanette represented the best of us, devoting the rest of her life to advocating for critical preventative cancer screenings for low-income women and women of color. In her honor, I am proud to reintroduce the Jeanette Acosta Invest in Women's Health Act, so her legacy of tearing down these systemic barriers that stand in the way of life-saving health care may live on."

“Every year, women suffer preventable deaths because they lacked access to the preventive cancer screenings and care that would have detected their condition early on. We know that early detection saves lives—not to mention health care costs—and investing in preventive services to help more women get treatment before it’s too late is just common sense,” said Senator Murray, a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. “I’m proud to reintroduce the Jeanette Acosta Invest in Women’s Health Act with my friend Jimmy Gomez in honor of Jeanette Acosta, a fierce advocate for women’s health who fought for access to preventative health care and cancer services and shone a light on the shortcomings in our health care system that keep too many women from getting the care they need.”

“It is uplifting to me and to my family, that the bill is in our daughter’s name, the Jeanette Acosta Invest in Women’s Health Act of 2024,” said Frank X. Acosta, Ph.D, Jeanette Acosta’s father. “Close to seven years ago cervical cancer took the life of our precious and valiant daughter, Jeanette. At the young age of 32, after one year of incomparable pain and extensive treatment, Jeanette died from her advanced cancer. Jeanette prayed that women be spared from the agony of cervical cancer, and this bill would help to achieve her hope for many women. Jeanette, always a warrior for social justice, wanted to shine a light on the disparities to access to prevention and cancer health services for low-income, Latina, and Black women.  This bill would brightly illuminate and help to close the gap between cancer prevention and health services and the countless women who have not and may not be able to access these services. Jeanette would absolutely support this bill.”

“Education, preventive screenings, and early detection of breast and gynecologic cancer saves lives,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President & CEO, Planned Parenthood. “Jeanette Acosta, a fierce health care advocate and former Planned Parenthood patient, championed the rights of Black, Indigenous and Latina women, who disproportionately die from these horrific diseases, in large part due to barriers to receiving preventive health care. Planned Parenthood Federation of America is proud to support this bill alongside Sen. Murray and Rep. Gomez in Jeanette’s honor, and is proud of the nearly 600 Planned Parenthood health centers that continue to offer these critical health services to patients.”

The Jeanette Acosta Invest in Women’s Health Act of 2024 is endorsed by the following groups: Planned Parenthood Federation of America, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, Human Rights Watch, National Council of Jewish Women, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, and the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative.

Click here to read the full bill text.