Editing Laura Bush (section)

===Women's health and rights===
Another of her signature issues were those relating to the health and well-being of women. She established the Women's Health and Wellness Initiative and became involved with two major campaigns.

Bush first became involved with [[The Heart Truth]] awareness campaign in 2003.<ref name=ht>{{cite web |url=http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/ambassador/index.htm |title=The Heart Truth Ambassador |access-date=May 25, 2008 |publisher=National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509085726/http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/ambassador/index.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> It is an organization established by the [[National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute]] to raise awareness about [[heart disease]] in women, and how to prevent the condition.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=May 25, 2008 |url=http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/whatis/index.htm |title=What is The Heart Truth? |publisher=National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514223825/http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/whatis/index.htm |archive-date=May 14, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She serves in the honorary position of ambassador for the program<ref name=ht/> leading the federal government's effort to give women a "wake up call" about the risk of heart disease.<ref name=ht/> She commented on the disease: "Like many women, I assumed heart disease was a man's disease and cancer was what we would fear the most. Yet heart disease kills more women in our country than all forms of cancer combined. When it comes to heart disease, education, prevention, and even a little red dress can save lives."<ref name=ht/> She has undertaken a signature personal element of traveling around the country and talking to women at hospital and community events featuring the experiences of women who live, or had lived, with the condition.<ref name=ht/> This outreach was credited with directly saving the life of at least one woman who went to the hospital after experiencing symptoms of a heart attack after hearing her message.<ref name=ht/>

[[File:Laura Bush meets with women in UAE.jpg|thumb|right|Laura Bush meets with members of the Pink Majlis, a forum focusing on issues related to breast cancer, in [[Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates]], October 22, 2007.<ref>The White House, Office of the First Lady, [https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/wi/93960.htm First Lady Laura Bush's Remarks on the U.S.-Middle East Partnership on Breast Cancer Awareness and Research], 22 Oct 2007, U.S. Department of State Archive.</ref>]]

With her predecessor, former first lady [[Nancy Reagan]], Bush dedicated the First Ladies Red Dress Collection at the [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]] in May 2005. It is an exhibit containing red suits worn by former First Ladies [[Lady Bird Johnson]], [[Betty Ford]], [[Rosalynn Carter]], Nancy Reagan, [[Barbara Bush]], [[Hillary Clinton]], and Laura Bush meant to raise awareness by highlighting America's first ladies.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute |title=First Ladies Red Dress Collection |access-date=May 25, 2008 |url=http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/events/first_ladies.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514201231/http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/events/first_ladies.htm |archive-date=May 14, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She has participated in fashion shows displaying red dresses worn on celebrities as well.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute |access-date=May 25, 2008 |url=http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/events/mbfw2008.htm |title=Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week: The Red Dress Collection 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509094818/http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/events/mbfw2008.htm |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Bush's mother, Jenna Welch, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 78. She endured surgery and had no further signs of cancer. Laura Bush has become a breast cancer activist on her mother's behalf<ref name=bc>{{cite news|access-date=December 13, 2006 |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030312-8.html |title=Remarks by Mrs. Bush at Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation "Embrace the Race" Event |date=March 12, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514222524/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030312-8.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |url-status=live}}</ref> through her involvement in the [[Susan G. Komen for the Cure]]. She applauded the foundation's efforts in eliminating cancer and said, "A few short years ago, a diagnosis of breast cancer left little hope of recovery. But thanks to the work of the Komen Foundation ... more women and men are beating breast cancer and beating the odds."<ref name=bc/> She used her position to gain international support for the foundation through the Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research of the Americas, an initiative that unites experts from the United States, [[Brazil]], [[Costa Rica]] and Mexico.<ref>{{cite news|access-date=May 25, 2008 |date=March 14, 2008 |url=http://cms.komen.org/komen/NewsEvents/080314_MexicoCityLaunch |title=Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Mrs. Laura Bush Welcome Mexico to the Breast Cancer Awareness, Research Partnership |publisher=Susan G. Komen for the Cure |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011115302/http://cms.komen.org/komen/NewsEvents/080314_MexicoCityLaunch |archive-date=October 11, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In November 2001, she became the first person other than a president to deliver the weekly presidential radio address. She used the opportunity to discuss the [[Women's rights in Afghanistan|plight of women in Afghanistan]] leading up to the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|U.S. invasion of Afghanistan]], saying "The brutal oppression of women is a central goal of the terrorists."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011117.html |author=Laura Bush |title=Radio Address by Mrs. Bush |access-date=December 13, 2006 |date=November 17, 2001 |publisher=Office of the First Lady |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514222608/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011117.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Her husband was originally to give the address but he felt that she should do it; she later recalled, "At that moment, it was not that I found my voice. Instead, it was as if my voice found me."<ref name="thd-hl"/> Her words summarized one of the goals and moral rationales of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and it became one of the more famous speeches of his administration.<ref name="thd-hl">{{cite book |author-link=Valerie M. Hudson|last1=Hudson|first1=Valerie M.|last2=Leidl |first2=Patricia|title=The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|location=New York |year=2015|isbn=978-0-231-16492-4|pages=36–38, 42, 242, 267}}</ref> In May 2002, she made a speech to the people of Afghanistan through [[Radio Liberty]]. In March 2005, she made the first of three trips to that country as First Lady.<ref name="thd-hl"/>