Lupita Nyong’o and Mandy Moore Advocate for Women’s Health Research (Exclusive)

For Lupita Nyong’o and Mandy Moore, it’s a “no-brainer” to advocate for women’s health. 

In a sit-down interview with Linsey Davis on ABC News Live Prime on Tuesday, Sept. 16, they opened up about their current work advocating for women’s health research. During a recent visit to Washington, D.C., Nyong’o, 42, and Moore, 41, met with lawmakers to discuss the importance of this research and funding. They also shared their own personal struggles with Davis.

In PEOPLE’s exclusive clip of the upcoming segment, the ABC News anchor, 47, asked the stars to share the driving factor that led them to not only be vocal about these issues, but to go to Capitol Hill and speak to those who can orchestrate change.

Nyong’o explained that the turning point for her was when she discovered she had fibroids, a painful condition where noncancerous growths form on the uterus and can lead to debilitating symptoms like heavy menstrual bleeding, long periods, pelvic pain, frequent urination, constipation and back and leg pain.

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The A Quiet Place: Day One star — who had 30 fibroids and underwent surgery to remove them — said her experience was lonely and made her realize that research was lacking.

“Well I was first diagnosed with fibroids 11 years ago and at the time I was given two options, either live with the pain and discomfort or have invasive surgery,” she told Davis. “I ended up doing the surgery but when I asked my doctor what I could do to make sure that they didn’t come back, she said, ‘There’s nothing you can do, it’s only a matter of time until they grow again.’  

“I was so stunned by how little my doctor could tell me about this condition,” she continued. “I felt so helpless. And I’m not a scientist. So there was no way for me to really feel like I could do something about it myself. So I would say that I have felt alone. I felt very isolated in my condition.”

Nyong’o said that’s why she wanted not only to speak out, but to encourage women with a scientific background and policy platform to unite and ensure that change actually happens.

“For us to just allow women to be in pain, for it to just be normalized and accepted is unacceptable to me,” she stressed. “So I wanted to play whatever role that I could to ensure that the generations coming up after me do not, that they’re not met with the same sort of casual ignorance.” 

“And disregard,” Moore added.

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Additionally, for Moore, raising her children — sons Gus and Ozzie and daughter Lou — amplified her desire to advocate for the future in hopes that they will have better access to healthcare.

“I think since becoming a mother, it’s so much easier for me to advocate on behalf of myself and my children and the future generations,” the This Is Us alum explained. “It’s such a no-brainer to be able to use this crazy platform that a job I love has sort of given me.” 

“I mean, I’m so happy and thrilled to be in DC and to really feel the support around this continued collective conversation around women’s health,” Moore added. 

During their roundtable with lawmakers, Nyong’o and Moore were joined by experts from the Society for Women’s Health Research, highlighting three bills related to maternal health and uterine fibroids research.

“ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis” streams weeknights at 7pm ET. ABC News Live is available on Disney+, Hulu, The Roku Channel, YouTube, YouTube TV, Samsung TV Plus, Amazon, Pluto TV, TikTok, ABCNews.com, the ABC News and ABC News Live apps, and more.