[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 685 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 685
Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 2021, as
``World Contraception Day'' and expressing the sense of the House of
Representatives regarding global and domestic access to contraception.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 27, 2021
Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr.
Torres of New York, Ms. Chu, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Ocasio-
Cortez, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Ms. DelBene, Mr. McGovern,
Mr. Nadler, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Meng, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Clark of
Massachusetts, Ms. Bass, and Mr. Cicilline) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce,
and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 2021, as
``World Contraception Day'' and expressing the sense of the House of
Representatives regarding global and domestic access to contraception.
Whereas September 26 marks World Contraception Day, a day when organizations and
individuals around the world advocate to improve awareness of
contraception and the right to sexual and reproductive health;
Whereas, in 1968, the United Nations International Conference on Human Rights
declared that ``parents have a basic human right to determine freely and
responsibly the number and spacing of their children'';
Whereas access to contraceptives in the United States is recognized as a
fundamental right under the constitutional right to privacy through the
Supreme Court's decisions in Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479
(1965) and Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972);
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognized family
planning in its published list of the ``Ten Greatest Public Health
Achievements in the 20th Century'';
Whereas target 3.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which was adopted by the United States and 192 other United Nations (UN)
member states, calls on countries ``by 2030, to ensure universal access
to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family
planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive
health into national strategies and programs'';
Whereas contraception, specifically condoms, decreases the spread of sexually
transmitted infections (STIs) and could eliminate the 3.5 million annual
cases of infertility in low- and middle-income countries that are caused
by untreated gonorrhea or chlamydia;
Whereas the ability of individuals to control the number and spacing of their
children reduces rates of unwanted pregnancy;
Whereas in developing countries, public health experts estimate that access to
contraceptives would result in 76 million fewer unintended pregnancies,
26 million fewer unsafe abortions, and 186,000 fewer maternal deaths;
Whereas significant racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities exist in
sexual and reproductive health, particularly in maternal mortality and
infant mortality with Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native women
two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than
White women;
Whereas contraceptive choices are unduly influenced by structural racism, gender
discrimination, and socioeconomic barriers, and research shows that both
historically and today, medical racism has resulted in experiments on,
exploitation of, and mistrust of Black women's sexual and reproductive
health;
Whereas effective contraception has been shown to be an important strategy to
maintaining and improving mental health and well-being for women,
particularly in relation to postpartum depression from unplanned
pregnancies;
Whereas planning, delaying, and spacing births helps people achieve their
education and career goals;
Whereas young women with access to the pill before age 21 graduated from college
in significantly higher numbers than did women of the same era who came
of age before the pill was available to them;
Whereas children born to mothers with access to United States federally funded
family planning programs, which increase access to affordable
contraception and family planning services, were more likely to complete
at least 12, 13, and 16 years of schooling, and had two-percent higher
family incomes as adults;
Whereas globally, access to contraception increases labor force participation
boosting economic health and prosperity of developing communities;
Whereas many women face challenges in accessing birth control and using it
effectively, and globally, 270 million women (14 percent) have an unmet
need for family planning using modern contraception;
Whereas in the United States, one-third of adult United States women who have
ever tried to obtain prescription contraception reported barriers to
access;
Whereas 12 States in America allow some health care providers to refuse to
provide services related to contraception;
Whereas studies show that preventing teenagers from accessing contraceptives
puts teens at risk of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted
diseases, including HIV;
Whereas 9 States in America have adopted restrictions on emergency contraception
by excluding emergency contraception from a State's family planning
program, contraceptive coverage mandate, or by allowing pharmacists to
refuse to dispense emergency contraceptives;
Whereas according to the UN, globally, 19 percent of governments apply one or
more restrictions on contraceptive access, and these include
restrictions on the age and marital status of the person seeking access
to contraception, parental consent, and restrictions on access to
emergency contraceptive pills or sterilization;
Whereas researchers propose some women of color experience implicit and explicit
racism when interacting with the medical system, lack of quality
information about effective family planning methods, and an inability to
access or afford reproductive health care;
Whereas while comprehensive sex education has been proven to reduce rates of
unintended pregnancy and STIs, only 20 States and the District of
Columbia require sex education to include information on birth control;
Whereas globally, many countries have made advances in developing policies to
improve access to comprehensive sex education, however, there remain
significant gaps between global and regional policies and implementation
on the ground such as limited teacher training capacity;
Whereas existing research highlights uninsured women were 30 percent less likely
to report using prescription contraceptive methods than women with
private or public health insurance and women identify affordability
among the top three factors in determining which contraception to use;
Whereas LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly transgender individuals undergoing
transition, experience unique barriers to contraception access;
Whereas there are continued efforts to defund or eliminate contraceptive
programs, even though they are proven to reduce unintended pregnancies;
Whereas reproductive justice is the human right to maintain personal bodily
autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we
have in safe and sustainable communities;
Whereas people of color, indigenous people, immigrant communities, and people
with disabilities have been exploited in the service of contraceptive
development, and been coerced into using contraception, or sterilized
against their will, yet still may face barriers to accessing
contraception when they need it; and
Whereas Congress has repeatedly recognized the importance of women's ability to
access contraceptives through support for the Medicaid program, title X
of the Public Health Service Act, and the Federal Employee Health
Benefits Program: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
(1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
Congress and this Administration should take further steps to
ensure that all people have universal, expansive, high-quality
access to free or affordable contraception;
(2) the House of Representatives and the Administration
should ensure all people capable of pregnancy autonomy to
decide whether to have children, the number and spacing of
their children, and to have medically accurate information,
education, and access to health services to make these
decisions and pursue reproductive justice;
(3) the House of Representatives and the Administration
should examine and support ways to expand comprehensive access
to contraception, including new evidence-based methods and
innovations;
(4) the House of Representatives and the Administration
should ensure people have access to affordable, comprehensive,
consistent insurance coverage for all their reproductive health
care needs, including contraception and abortion;
(5) the House of Representatives aligns with scientific
perspective that ``contraception'' includes all current and
future Food and Drug Administration-approved methods, including
those available by prescription and over-the-counter, and the
World Health Organization defines contraception to include
female and male sterilization, the intra-uterine device (IUD),
the implant, injectables, oral contraceptive pills, external
and internal condoms, vaginal barrier methods (including the
diaphragm, cervical cap and spermicidal foam, jelly, cream, and
sponge), lactational amenorrhea method (LAM), emergency
contraception and other modern methods not reported separately
(for example, the contraceptive patch or vaginal ring);
(6) the House of Representatives and the Administration
should ensure that laws governing contraception access are
evidence-based and grounded in accurate medical information;
(7) the House of Representatives and the Administration
should work to end reproductive health disparities, including
with regard to ethnicity, race, gender identity, and sexual
orientation;
(8) the House of Representatives and the Administration
should work to end gender-based violence, which
disproportionately affects women, including transgender women;
(9) the House of Representatives and the Administration
should expand comprehensive and gender inclusive sex education
and patient-centered counseling, which includes accurate, age-
appropriate information about one's body, sexual and
reproductive health, methods of contraception and access, and
human rights;
(10) the House of Representatives and the Administration
should ensure that United States foreign assistance includes
support for contraception services, safe abortion services, and
quality post-abortion care; and
(11) this Congress does not support the global gag rule and
Helms amendments and supports increased funding for domestic
and foreign assistance contraceptive programs such as those
under title X, Medicaid, Federal health care providers, and the
United States Agency for International Development's Office of
Population and Reproductive Health.
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