Marcia Cross Joins Lobby For Breast Cancer Survivors

[Brian Damage]

Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross has urged the U.S. Congress to pass a new bill to prevent women who undergo mastectomies from being discharged hours after surgery.

Cross joined protestors on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to lobby the government to approve the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007, which will allow women the choice of recuperating in hospital for up to 48 hours after having a mastectomy.

She says, "It's such a simple bill that it's hard for me to understand why it's been languishing in Congress for 10 years. When they told me about it, I just said, 'What's the problem?'" The actress, 45, admits the cause is one close to her heart because she has friends who have survived breast cancer - and she can't believe how women suffering from the disease are forced to go home the same day after losing a breast.

She adds, "I tried to imagine losing a foot and then (people) saying, 'OK, now go home.' ... It's just really unfathomable." However Cross is positive their lobbying will be successful: "I feel very optimistic that maybe that Congress has shifted a bit, that health care is more in the forefront, that maybe, you know, this is the moment."