Seeing The Uterus and Ovaries is Believing.

If the female sex organs were visible like the male sex organs, would they still be removed from 622,000 women each year?

Myth: "Only men have gonads."

Fact:  A woman's gonads are her ovaries. Removal of the ovaries is castration, and the aftereffects are to women what the aftereffects of removal of the testicles are to men.

Myth:  "Sex will be better than ever after hysterectomy."

Fact:  Removal of the uterus causes the loss of uterine orgasm, one of the many irreversible consequences of hysterectomy.   

Myth:  "After the surgery you'll feel better than ever, and sex will be the same or better."

Fact:  The most common problems women report after hysterectomy include loss of sexual feeling, loss of vitality, bone/joint/muscle pain, fatigue, and personality change.

Myth:  "Doctors don't perform as many hysterectomies as they used to."

Fact:  Less than 2% of all hysterectomies are life-saving. Most hysterectomies are performed for benign conditions, not medical problems. The rate of cancer in the female sex organs and the male sex organs is almost identical. The rate of male sex organ removal is statistically insignificant, and yet in the last decade an average of 622,000 hysterectomies and 454,000 female castrations were performed each year in the U.S. That's more than one every minute of every hour of every day.. There are 22 million women alive today in America whose sex organs have been removed. 

Myth:  "Doctors don't have enough time to provide information about female anatomy and the functions of the female organs before they tell women to sign hysterectomy consent forms." 

Fact:  It takes just a few seconds for doctors to hand women HERS' 12-minute "Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs DVD, available at www.hersfoundation.org/anatomy. And that's good news. HERS' 12-minute female anatomy DVD makes the female organs visible. It fills the information gap and can prevent about 610,000 unwarranted hysterectomies and 622,000 hysterectomies performed without the information required for consent each year, which would save more than $17B dollars a year in rising medical costs. 

Tell us what you were told about the life-long consequences of hysterectomy.