FACTS
FACT: Women report a loss of physical sexual sensation after hysterectomy.
FACT: A woman’s vagina is shortened, scarred and dislocated by hysterectomy.
FACT: Hysterectomy’s damage is life-long. Among its most common consequences, in addition to operative injuries are:
- heart disease
- loss of sexual desire, arousal, sensation and uterine orgasm
- weight gain
- osteoporosis
- bone, joint and muscle pain and immobility
- painful intercourse, vaginal damage
- displacement of bladder, bowel, and other pelvic organs
- urinary tract infections, frequency, incontinence
- chronic constipation and digestive disorders
- debilitating fatigue
- loss of stamina
- altered body odor
- loss of short-term memory
- blunting of emotions, personality changes, despondency, irritability, anger, reclusiveness and suicidal thinking
FACT: No drugs or other treatments can replace ovarian or uterine hormones or functions. The loss is permanent.
FACT: The medical term for the removal of the ovaries is castration. 73% of women are castrated during hysterectomy.
FACT: The uterus and ovaries function throughout life in women who have not been hysterectomized or castrated.
FACT: Armed with information, 98% of women HERS referred to board-certified gynecologists after being told they needed hysterectomies, discovered that, in fact, they did not need hysterectomies.
FACT: Gynecologists, hospitals and drug companies make more than $17B dollars a year from the business of hysterectomy and castration.
HERS is the only independent, international, 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the issue of hysterectomy. HERS advocates for fully informed medical decisions by women.