California Women Back YES on Prop 38 to Accelerate Cures for Diseases That Affect Them Most

Nurses, caregivers, healthcare providers say Proposition 38 brings new hope for diseases that disproportionately affect women

SACRAMENTO, CA, UNITED STATES, October 7, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Women’s health advocates, nurses and caregivers across California share why they are voting YES on Proposition 38, the Immunology Medical Research & Cures Initiative, to accelerate lifesaving research for diseases that disproportionately affect women.

“Prop 38 will help accelerate treatments and cures for Alzheimer’s, autoimmune conditions and certain cancers that disproportionately impact women,” said Alicia Truelove, American Nurses Association\California Board Member and immunotherapy patient. “As a woman living with a rare autoimmune disease myself, I know the promise immunotherapy holds for patients like me. As a mother and a nurse, I also know how deeply the need for better treatments affects not only patients, but the families who depend on us to help their loved ones we care for. ”

Women face a significant burden of disease and health conditions that could be treated, prevented or cured through immunology research:
- Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women. In California alone, about 63,000 women die of heart disease every year.
- Cancer is the second leading cause of death. This year, more than 45,000 women in California will be diagnosed with cancers that uniquely affect them, including breast, uterine, ovarian and cervical cancers.
- Two-thirds of those living with Alzheimer’s are women.
- Four out of five diagnosed with autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis are women and 50% are more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than men with the same conditions.
- Reproductive conditions such as endometriosis impact more than 11% of American women and up to 5% experience recurrent miscarriages.

“Most Americans living with Alzheimer's are women, and most of the people caring for them are women too, often their daughters – like me,” said Viva Mogi, caregiver for her mother and volunteer with Alzheimer’s Los Angeles. “Prop 38 is giving families like mine the hope for better treatments to slow the progression of this devastating disease as soon as possible. And it’s giving us hope for a cure and what caregiving can look like in the future.”

Prop 38 will provide $8.4 billion to advance immunology research to help prevent and treat cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and other persistent diseases. Immunotherapies harness the body’s own immune system to prevent and treat disease, and they are already successfully treating patients with melanoma, lung cancer, leukemia and lymphoma. Prop 38 will help fund the next generation of this research for other devastating diseases, including Parkinson’s, diabetes, ALS, muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis.

Prop 38 represents a new approach to medical research funding, creating a collaborative statewide network that combines competitive research grants with a world-class immunology institute designed to help turn discoveries into lifesaving treatments and cures. Half of the funding will support competitive grants at California universities and nonprofit research institutions, while the other half will support a nonprofit immunology institute affiliated with the University of California that can bring together leading scientists, technology, laboratories, patients and clinical trials.

“Most of the people who come to my clinic with a new multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis are women,” said Kara Barton, Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in neurological conditions. “They're finishing school, starting careers, raising kids and caring for their own parents. They deserve more than a lifetime of managing symptoms. Immunology is already changing how we treat MS, and Prop 38 will help California researchers pursue the potential to stop it and one day cure it. That's the hope I want to give to my patients.”

Prop 38 is designed to pay for itself. Ten percent of all proceeds from the licensing of immunotherapies must be returned to California to offset the measure’s total costs, including interest. Additionally, any cure or immunotherapy developed will be provided to California patients at a 20 percent discount below the national average. Prop 38 also includes strict accountability requirements, including:
- A two percent cap on state administrative expenses
- Public disclosure of spending
- Independent financial audits
- For-profit corporations are not eligible for grant funding

Learn more at YESon38.com, including a coalition list and what supporters are saying.

Robin Swanson
YES on Prop 38
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