A new law will go into effect tomorrow that requires doctors to inform women if they have dense breast tissue.
According to the breastcancer.org, women who have dense breast tissue are six times more likely to develop cancer.
Dense breasts have less fatty tissue than other breasts.
Breast cancer looks white on mammograms, while fatty tissue looks dark. So it’s harder to catch cancer on a dense breast.
It’s a normal condition for women to have dense breast tissue.
Teresa Hendricks-Pitsch is a lawyer based in Grand Rapids who pushed for the law.
“The reason why I wanted to start the initiative for the law is because my own breast cancer was hidden on mammograms for over seven years and I never knew it,” Hendricks-Pitsch said.
Hendricks-Pitsch said she start working on the law three years ago when she was diagnosed, and continued working on it while going through treatment.
She said the law will help women make more informed decisions about their health.
“We now actually have a law that will actually help women take better care of their health and find cancer earlier when it’s still survivable,” Hendricks-Pitsch said.
