Health

First lady Jill Biden highlights Cancer Moonshot initiative in San Francisco visit

October 7, 2022 / 4:55 PM PDT / CBS/Bay City News Service

SAN FRANCISCO -- First lady Jill Biden came to San Francisco on Friday to tour a cancer care center and for a Democratic fundraiser event.

Biden landed at San Francisco International Airport Thursday evening and on Friday morning toured the University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF's Mission Bay campus, according to pool reports of the visit.

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier and other elected officials accompanied Biden on the tour, which the first lady's office said was to highlight the Cancer Moonshot initiative of her husband, President Joe Biden, as well as to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The initiative seeks to cut the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years.

First lady Dr. Jill Biden (C) speaks at the University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center as Dr. Paola Betancur (L), Dr. Monica Bertagnolli (2-L), medical student Kami Pullakhandam (2-R), and Dr. Rita Mukhtar (R) look on on October 7, 2022 in San Francisco, California. JOHN G. MABANGLO / Getty Images

Biden then joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Women's Lunch and Issues Conference at the Fairmont San Francisco Hotel in the city's Nob Hill neighborhood.

According to pool reports, Biden talked about how "extremist Republicans are passing state laws that prevent women from getting the health care they need," and recounted her mother allowing her friend to recover at their family's home after getting an abortion in the late 1960s.

"Secrecy. Shame. Silence. Danger. Even death. That's what defined that time for so many women," she said.

The first lady was going to travel to the state of Washington following her visit to the Bay Area.