White House goes pink for breast cancer awareness

Pink White House
The north side of the White House is lit by pink lights in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Washington, DC, Oct. 24, 2013.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Tourists may do a double take when they pass by the White House on Thursday.

That's because, for one evening, the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the president's official residence was lit up in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The anchor at the Naval Observatory, where the vice president's residence is located, also was to be lit pink.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says more than 230,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and that thousands will die from the disease.

Carney put in a plug Thursday for breast cancer screenings and other free preventive services available under the new health care law. And he noted that starting next year, insurance companies will be barred from denying anyone coverage because of a pre-existing condition, like breast cancer.