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In this era of protests for human and civil rights, a group of people — including veteran actress Halle Berry — found themselves on the steps of Capitol Hill on Thursday to push for legislation over a specific issue that affects women in the United States: menopause.

Standing alongside a group of bipartisan senators, Berry and the collective urged for at least “$275 million towards research and education around menopause,” according to ABC. “The legislation calls for the federal government to spend more on clinical trials on menopause as well as the hormone therapy that is used to treat hot flashes and other symptoms.”

Saying the once stigmatized “M-word,” Berry told the crowd: “I’m in menopause, OK? The shame has to be taken out of menopause. We have to talk about this very normal part of our life that happens. Our doctors can’t even say the word to us, let alone walk us through the journey.”

As previously reported by The Root, Berry has been vocal about her menopause journey, revealing in an interview with with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden in Los Angeles at ​​the A Day of Unreasonable Conversation summit in March, that she was misdiagnosed with herpes by a doctor when it was really perimenopause.

For context, perimenopause is the little known stage that happens right before regular menopause that can have an adverse affect on women’s bodies.

“The way women and men feel about women during their midlife and how they feel about this — which used to be a dirty little word — menopause, perimenopause, and we in this room have to change that… it can’t just be the doom and gloom story. This is a glorious time of life.”