III 109th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 485 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 22, 2006 Mrs. Clinton (for herself, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Lautenberg, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Harkin, Mrs. Feinstein, and Ms. Landrieu) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions RESOLUTION To express the sense of the Senate concerning the value of family planning for American women.

Whereas the United States has one of the highest rates of abortion in the industrialized world; Whereas reducing unintended pregnancies will reduce the number of abortions; Whereas one of the most effective ways to prevent unintended pregnancy is to improve access to safe, affordable, effective family planning; Whereas contraceptive use has declined (slightly among all women and precipitously among low-income women) and, as a result, unplanned pregnancy rates have risen among low-income women by 30 percent; Whereas the impact of contraceptive use is hard to overstate—11 percent of women in the United States who do not use contraception account for ½ of all unintended pregnancies; Whereas low-income women today are 4 times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy and more than 4 times as likely to have an abortion as higher-income women; Whereas abortion rates have increased among low-income women, even as they have continued to decrease among more affluent women; Whereas 12,800,000 women of reproductive age are uninsured and 9,300,000 women of reproductive age live in poverty; Whereas lack of coverage for contraception and other health care costs result in women of reproductive age paying 68 percent more in out-of-pocket costs for health care services than do men of the same age; Whereas family planning is a vital part of helping women achieve the best health outcomes for both women and their babies; and Whereas Women’s Health Week is a time to recognize the important role family planning services play in the lives of women across the United States: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the Senate that— (1)Congress should help women, regardless of income, avoid unintended pregnancy and abortion through access to affordable contraception; and (2)Congress should support programs and policies that make it easier for women to obtain contraceptives.