II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1320
To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
to take certain steps regarding research related to menopause,
perimenopause, or mid-life women’s health, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL8, 2025
Mrs. M
URRAY(for herself and Ms. ERNST) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs to take certain steps regarding research
related to menopause, perimenopause, or mid-life wom-
en’s health, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Servicewomen and Vet-4
erans Menopause Research Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) COVERED PROVIDER .—The term ‘‘covered 1
provider’’ means a health care provider employed by 2
the Department of Defense or the Department of 3
Veterans Affairs. 4
(2) M
ENOPAUSE.—The term ‘‘menopause’’ 5
means the stage of a woman’s life— 6
(A) when menstrual periods stop perma-7
nently and she can no longer get pregnant; and 8
(B) that is not a disease state, but a nor-9
mal part of aging for women. 10
(3) M
ID-LIFE.—The term ‘‘mid-life’’ means a 11
life stage that— 12
(A) coincides with the menopausal transi-13
tion in women, which may be physical or emo-14
tional; 15
(B) encompasses the late reproductive age, 16
which can begin at approximately 35 years of 17
age, to the late postmenopausal stages of repro-18
ductive aging, which can extend to approxi-19
mately 65 years of age; and 20
(C) often marks the onset of many chronic 21
diseases. 22
(4) P
ERIMENOPAUSE.—The term 23
‘‘perimenopause’’ means the time during a woman’s 24
life when levels of the hormone estrogen fall un-25
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evenly in a woman’s body and is also called the men-1
opausal transition. 2
(5) P
OSTMENOPAUSAL.—The term ‘‘post-3
menopausal’’ means the stage of a woman’s life after 4
a woman has been without a menstrual period for 12 5
months that lasts for the rest of a woman’s life and 6
reflects a time when women are at increased risk for 7
osteoporosis and heart disease. 8
SEC. 3. EVALUATION OF CERTAIN RESEARCH RELATED TO 9
MENOPAUSE, PERIMENOPAUSE, OR MID-LIFE 10
WOMEN’S HEALTH. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, in co-12
ordination with Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall evalu-13
ate— 14
(1) the results of completed research related to 15
menopause, perimenopause, or mid-life women’s 16
health among women who are members of the 17
Armed Forces or veterans; 18
(2) the status of such research that is ongoing; 19
(3) any gaps in knowledge and research on— 20
(A) treatments for menopause-related 21
symptoms, including hormone and non-hormone 22
treatments; 23
(B) the safety and effectiveness of treat-24
ments for menopause-related symptoms; 25
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(C) the relation of service in the Armed 1
Forces to perimenopause and menopause and 2
the impact of such service on perimenopause 3
and menopause; 4
(D) the effect of combat roles on symp-5
toms relating to perimenopause and menopause, 6
including exposure to burn pits, toxic chemicals, 7
and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl sub-8
stances (commonly known as ‘‘PFAS’’); and 9
(E) the impact of perimenopause and 10
menopause on the mental health of women who 11
are members of the Armed Forces or veterans; 12
(4) the availability of and uptake of professional 13
training resources for covered providers relating to 14
mid-life women’s health with respect to the care, 15
treatment, and management of perimenopause and 16
menopausal symptoms, and related support services; 17
and 18
(5) the availability of and uptake of treatments 19
for women who are members of the Armed Forces 20
or veterans who are experiencing perimenopause or 21
menopause. 22
(b) R
EPORT; STRATEGICPLAN.—Not later than 180 23
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-24
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retary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 1
shall each submit to Congress a report containing— 2
(1) the findings of the evaluation conducted 3
under subsection (a); 4
(2) recommendations for improving professional 5
training resources described in subsection (a)(4) for 6
covered providers; and 7
(3) a strategic plan that— 8
(A) resolves the gaps in knowledge and re-9
search identified in the report; and 10
(B) identifies topics in need of further re-11
search relating to potential treatments for 12
menopause-related symptoms of women who are 13
members of the Armed Forces or veterans. 14
(c) N
ONDUPLICATION AND SUPPLEMENTATION OF 15
E
FFORTS.—In carrying out activities under this section, 16
the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans 17
Affairs shall ensure that such activities minimize duplica-18
tion and supplement, not supplant, existing information- 19
sharing efforts of the Department of Health and Human 20
Services. 21
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SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ADDITIONAL RESEARCH 1
RELATED TO MENOPAUSE, PERIMENOPAUSE, 2
OR MID-LIFE WOMEN’S HEALTH. 3
It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of De-4
fense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should each 5
conduct research related to menopause, perimenopause, or 6
mid-life health regarding women who are members of the 7
Armed Forces or veterans. 8
Æ
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