Calif. women want breast density law to stay

California women want their state's breast density notification law to stay on the books, according to a survey conducted by Are You Dense Advocacy.

The state's law, SB 1538, is set to expire on January 1, 2019. Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), chair of the state's Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, has introduced bill SB 1034 to eliminate this expiration date. The bill's next hearing is scheduled for May 14.

In March, Are You Dense Advocacy released an online survey to 500 California women between the ages of 40 and 74 who had undergone screening mammography within the past two years. Results of the survey include the following:

• Of those surveyed, 95% of respondents want the breast density reporting law to remain.
• 85% of respondents agreed that it is important that every woman knew her type of breast tissue, and 88% agreed that they would prefer to know than not know.
• 68% of California women learned of their breast tissue type from a conversation with healthcare providers.
• 59% of the respondents who had dense breasts indicated that their healthcare provider had talked to them about having additional screening.

"California women want the law to stay in place, as it is leading to conversations between patient and provider about personalized screening," noted Nancy Cappello, PhD, the founder and director of Are you Dense Advocacy, in a statement.