Endometriosis, Disability, and Policy: Why Petition e-7415 Matters in Canada

How a federal petition and new research are calling for a national response.

Authors: Samantha L. Levang*, Victoria Jackman*, Andrea Gallo Hoyos, & Caroline F. Pukall *shared first-authorship

Endometriosis is often described as “just bad periods,” yet for many people, pain is not just something that happens once a month. It can shape where they can work, how often or long they can attend school, whether they can plan a pregnancy, and how much energy is left after managing fatigue, nausea, and heavy bleeding. Across Canada, people living with endometriosis have been calling for better recognition and support; Petition e-7415 is one way those calls are reaching the federal level.

Petition e-7415: What it asks for

Petition e‑7415 (Health) calls on the Government of Canada to recognize that almost two million Canadians are affected by endometriosis and that the condition has a significant negative impact on health, wellbeing, and participation in work and education. This petition points to persistent gaps in Canada, including long delays to diagnosis, uneven access to knowledgeable care, and limited research funding.

Building on the federal Standing Committee on Health’s report Women’s Health in Canada, the petition calls on the Government of Canada to:

• Increase funding for research that supports innovation and discovery in endometriosis diagnosis and treatment.

• Develop a national action plan on endometriosis – designed with input from people living with endometriosis, clinicians, researchers, and community organizations – to address barriers to awareness, diagnosis, and care.

Rather than treating endometriosis as an individual problem to be managed quietly, Petition e-7415 frames it as a public health and policy issue that requires coordinated action.

This petition sits alongside Petition e‑6929, which focuses on recognizing endometriosis and adenomyosis as potential disabilities. Together, they reflect a growing understanding that endometriosis is not just a “women’s health issue,” but a chronic, often disabling condition that requires coordinated policy action.

For readers interested in adenomyosis and Petition e-6929, we have a companion blog that focuses specifically on adenomyosis, disability, and why recognition in policy matters.

What is endometriosis?

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological condition in which tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the uterus. The most common symptoms include severe menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea), chronic pelvic pain that can persist outside of menstruation, pain with penetration during sexual activity, gastrointestinal and urinary symptoms such as painful bowel movements and urination, fatigue, and infertility (Ek et al., 2015; Geng & Lee, 2019; Prescott et al., 2016; Taylor et al., 2021; van Poll et al., 2020).

A 2025 JAMA review describes endometriosis as “a chronic, estrogen-dependent, inflammatory disease” that affects approximately 10% of reproductive‑aged women worldwide (As-Sanie et al., 2025). Building on this, recent research has emphasized that endometriosis is “a chronic systemic disease,” meaning it can affect multiple organ systems, not just the pelvis (Taylor et al., 2021). In Canada, a cross-sectional survey of 30,000 women found a 7% rate of diagnosed endometriosis, which works out to approximately one million people. Almost half were between 18 and 29 when they received their diagnosis, and many had symptoms long before that (Singh et al., 2020).

Despite updated guidelines encouraging clinical diagnosis based on symptoms and imaging, diagnostic delays are common (Becker et al., 2022; Hudelist et al., 2012; Kuznetsov et al., 2017; Singh et al., 2020). Canadian patients report an average wait of 5.4 years from symptom onset to diagnosis, with some waiting more than a decade (Grimstad et al., 2020; Singh et al., 2020). These delays are shaped by symptom variability, lack of awareness among both patients and providers, stigma around gynecologic symptoms, normalization of menstrual pain, and structural inequities, especially for gender‑diverse people (Leonardi et al., 2020; Wahl et al., 2021; Zondervan et al., 2020).

How endometriosis can be disabling

Endometriosis affects much more than the menstrual cycle. Pain, fatigue, and other symptoms can interfere with work schedules, school attendance, caregiving responsibilities, relationships, and everyday tasks such as commuting or doing household activities. People may find themselves planning their lives around flare-ups, heavy bleeding, or days when they cannot get out of bed.

Canadian data show that these impacts are substantial. One study found that, among people with endometriosis, there was 17.1% absenteeism, 41.8% reduced productivity at work, 46.5% overall work impairment, and 41.4% impairment in daily activities (Soliman et al., 2021). Moreover, endometriosis in Canada is estimated to cost around 1.8 billion dollars per year, mostly due to lost productivity (Levy et al., 2011). Other research highlights lower quality of life and higher rates of anxiety and depression among people with endometriosis compared to those without the condition (Culley et al., 2013; Leuenberger et al., 2022; Levang & Pukall, 2024).

Stigma and disbelief add another layer. Menstrual pain is frequently minimized, and many people report being told their symptoms are “normal,” stress-related, or “in their head.” Long diagnostic delays, difficulty accessing specialists, and limited provider awareness contribute to people feeling dismissed or unsupported (As-Sanie et al., 2019; Davenport et al., 2023; Wahl et al., 2021).

In everyday terms, this means endometriosis can substantially limit what people are able to do, in ways that fit how disability is defined in law and policy—even if those impacts are not always visible from the outside. For some, endometriosis is an invisible, dynamic disability: its impact can change from day to day, which can complicate whether or how they feel “disabled enough” to ask for support or identify as disabled.

Where the VISIBLE Study fits in

Research is essential to understanding how endometriosis becomes disabling in real life. The VISIBLE Study (Voicing Identity, Symptoms, Impacts, Barriers, and Lived Experiences in Endometriosis) is a national project at Queen’s University’s Sexual Health Research Laboratory that centers the experiences of people living with suspected or confirmed endometriosis in Canada. It examines how people experience pain, disability, stigma, and identity, and how these experiences affect work, school, relationships, and everyday activities (Levang, 2025; SHRL, 2026).

VISIBLE combines an online survey with in‑depth interviews with people who feel that endometriosis is disabling for them, whether all the time or only during flares. It treats disability not just as an individual medical issue, but as something shaped by ableism, sexism, racism, transphobia, and other forms of oppression.

Findings from VISIBLE can help show how endometriosis becomes disabling in real life, not just in statistics or legal definitions. This kind of evidence is essential for petitions like e‑7415, which call on the federal government to respond to endometriosis with the seriousness and coordination it demands.

What you can do

Right now, petitions e‑7415 and e‑6929 are asking Canada to recognize endometriosis (and adenomyosis) as chronic, often disabling conditions and to improve research, diagnosis, treatment, and support. At the same time, VISIBLE is gathering detailed, lived‑experience data on how endometriosis affects people’s bodies, lives, and identities across the country.

Together, they represent a powerful opportunity: policy informed by the voices of those most affected, and research designed to make those voices impossible to ignore.

To learn more about how adenomyosis is being addressed through Petition e-6929, see our companion blog on adenomyosis and disability in Canada.

Learn more about or participate in the VISIBLE Study: https://www.sexlab.ca/participate

Petition e-7415 is open for signatures until August 6, 2026, at 2:05PM (EDT), so signatures are time-sensitive!

Sign Petition e‑7415: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Sign/e-7415

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