[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 162 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 162

 Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning Griswold v. Connecticut.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 7, 2005

   Ms. Snowe (for herself, Mr. Obama, Mr. Corzine, Mrs. Boxer, Mrs. 
Murray, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Reid, 
  Mr. Feingold, and Mr. Jeffords) submitted the following resolution; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning Griswold v. Connecticut.

Whereas June 7, 2005, marks the 40th anniversary of the United States Supreme 
        Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) in which the Court 
        recognized the constitutional right of married couples to use 
        contraception--a right that the Court would extend to unmarried 
        individuals within less than a decade;
Whereas the decision in Griswold v. Connecticut paved the way for widespread use 
        of birth control among American women;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized family 
        planning in its published list of the ``Ten Great Public Health 
        Achievements in the 20th Century'';
Whereas the typical woman in the United States wants only 2 children and 
        therefore spends roughly 30 years of her life trying to prevent 
        pregnancy;
Whereas birth control is a critical component of basic preventive health care 
        for women and has been the driving force in reducing national rates of 
        unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion;
Whereas the ability of women to control their fertility and avoid unintended 
        pregnancy has led to dramatic declines in maternal and infant mortality 
        rates and has improved maternal and infant health;
Whereas in 1965, there were 31.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and in 
        2000 there were 9.8 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births;
Whereas in 1965, 24.7 infants under 1 year of age died per 1,000 live births and 
        in 2003 this figure had declined to 7 infant deaths per 1,000 live 
        births;
Whereas the ability of women to control their fertility has enabled them to 
        achieve personal educational and professional goals critical to the 
        economic success of the United States;
Whereas in 1965, 7 percent of women completed 4 or more years of college 
        compared to 26 percent in 2004;
Whereas in 1965, women age 16 and over constituted 39 percent of the workforce 
        compared to 59 percent in 2004;
Whereas publicly-funded family planning programs have increased the ability of 
        women, regardless of economic status, to access birth control and 
        experience the resulting health and economic benefits;
Whereas public investment in this most basic preventive health care is extremely 
        cost effective--for every dollar spent on publicly funded family 
        planning, $3 is saved in pregnancy-related and newborn care cost to the 
        Medicaid program alone;
Whereas Congress had repeatedly recognized the importance of a women's ability 
        to access contraceptives through support for Medicaid, title X of the 
        Public Health Service Act, and the Federal Employee Health Benefits 
        Program;
Whereas 40 years after the Griswold decision, many women still face challenges 
        in accessing birth control and using it effectively;
Whereas the United States has one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancy 
        among Western nations and each year, half of all pregnancies in the 
        United States are unintended, and nearly half of those end in abortion;
Whereas teen pregnancy rates have dramatically declined, still, 78 percent of 
        teen pregnancies are unintended and more than one-third of teen girls 
        will become pregnant before age 20; and
Whereas publicly funded family planning clinics are the only source of 
        healthcare for many uninsured and low-income women: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) forty years ago the United States Supreme Court in 
        Griswold v. Connecticut held that married people have a 
        constitutional right to use contraceptives, a right that the 
        Court would extend to unmarried individuals within less than a 
        decade;
            (2) the ability of women to control their fertility through 
        birth control has vastly improved maternal and infant health, 
        has reduced national rates of unintended pregnancy, and has 
        allowed women the ability to achieve personal educational and 
        professional goals critical to the economic success of the 
        United States; and
            (3) Congress should take further steps to ensure that all 
        women have universal access to affordable contraception.
                                 <all>