We Have A Republican Party Waging A War Against Women And Women's Healthcare.

People who are pro-life believe that abortion should be illegal because they believe it takes a life. This is a reasonable belief based on their moral judgment.

I think I am doing quite well on the Abortion is Immoral thread.

Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death for women throughout the world. Approximately seven times more women will die from heart disease than breast cancer. Even in women with breast cancer, dying from heart disease is a leading cause of death.

Yet when I ask undergraduate students in my chronic disease class (most of whom are female) which disease causes the most deaths in women, only about half give the answer heart disease; a third say it is breast cancer.

This mirrors a 2012 survey from the United States, which found that only 56 per cent of female respondents identified heart disease as the leading cause of death.

Such a lack of awareness has very real consequences. Women who experience a heart attack in the U.S. are more likely to misunderstand the symptoms and delay seeking treatment. In Canada, early heart attack signs were missed in 78 per cent of women, according to the 2018 Heart Report from the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation.

While the glass ceiling for women’s heart health still exists, there are bright spots:

More organizations that fund research are requiring that sex and gender be considered in research proposals, and this understanding is growing among researchers themselves.

Researchers in Canada are at the forefront of new studies into heart conditions that predominantly affect women.

“Progress has been made recently, but not nearly fast enough to equitably protect women’s hearts,” says Savoie. “The challenge is to accelerate the pace of change, to gather new knowledge and translate it into better and safer heart health care for women.”

Heart & Stroke has committed to action in improving women’s heart health, including:

Requiring Heart & Stroke funded research to address sex and gender as appropriate, including clinical trial enrollment.

Creating focus and collaboration through establishing the Heart & Stroke Women’s Heart and Brain Health Research Network.

Engaging people with a passion for women’s heart and brain health, including women living with heart disease and stroke, to influence our research, programming and advocacy efforts.

“This report is not placing blame; rather, it calls for solutions through banding together – researchers, funders, health care workers, system leaders, governments and organizations like Heart & Stroke – to transform women`s heart health,” says Savoie.

Knowledge about the natural history of coronary heart disease in women was limited until recent years. Few studies included women, despite the fact that heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in women older than 50 years and the cause of about 500,000 deaths annually. Over the past decade, knowledge has increased owing to a combination of greater participation of women in medical studies, improved medical technology, and political pressure.