Protest Against Medical Redefinition Of "Woman"

March Against Unwarranted, Unconsented, Unwanted Operations

from Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services (HERS)

It is no secret that hysterectomy is one of the most-performed major surgeries in the country and is also one of the least necessary and most damaging. It is also no secret that there is widespread hysterectomy-related abuse by gynecologists and that the hospitals, legislators and other authorities who could rein in the maltreatment of women have failed to do so.

An estimated 76% of women who are hysterectomized are castrated at the same time. The removed uterus and ovaries, however, are commonly found to be perfectly normal. What is worse, some women have never consented to the removal of any of these organs. And according to the HERS Foundation Data Bank, 99.7% percent of women in an ongoing study were given little or no prior information about the acknowledged adverse effects of hysterectomy--information that is a legal requisite of consent.

HERS president Nora W. Coffey makes the point that doctors often frighten women into consenting and give them false and misleading information. "When a doctor tells a woman who manifests no sign of disease or illness that she will be protected against cancer by castration, he is using a common scare tactic. And when a doctor tells an intact woman that after a hysterectomy she will still be 'the same as before - only better' that is false and misleading. Demonstrably so."

On March 27, 2004 in Birmingham, Alabama HERS initiated a yearlong protest which will be taken up by demonstrators in 51 cities throughout the United States. This nationwide peaceful demonstration will culminate in Washington DC the week of March 12, 2005 in conjunction with a production of "un becoming", a play by Rick Schweikert, about the complex issues surrounding hysterectomy.

In Seattle the protest began on April 10 and ended on April 16, and took place at Harborview Medical Center. It was sponsored by the HERS Foundation and co-sponsored by UW Women's Center.

For more info contact HERS: 888.750.HERS, hersfdn@earthlink.net, www.hersfoundation.com