[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 590 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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114th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 590
Commemorating 100 years of health care services provided by Planned
Parenthood.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 29, 2016
Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Brown, Mrs.
Shaheen, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Franken, Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mrs.
Boxer, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Booker, Mr. Schumer,
Ms. Warren, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Cantwell, and Mrs. Feinstein) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commemorating 100 years of health care services provided by Planned
Parenthood.
Whereas, on October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger, her sister Ethel Byrne, and their
activist friend Fania Mindell opened the first birth control health
clinic in the United States in Brooklyn, New York, a groundbreaking and
revolutionary act for women at that time;
Whereas their clinic was founded on the idea that women should have the
information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and fulfill
their dreams;
Whereas Margaret Sanger in 1922 incorporated the American Birth Control League
and in 1923 opened the first legal birth control center in the United
States, the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau, two organizations
that would later merge to become Planned Parenthood Federation of
America;
Whereas leading up to 1916, the two most common causes of death for women of
childbearing age in the United States were tuberculosis and
complications from pregnancy and childbirth;
Whereas over the past 100 years, gains in access to birth control, safe and
legal abortion, and other reproductive health services have improved and
transformed the lives of women, men, and young people in the United
States and around the world;
Whereas for the past century, Planned Parenthood has helped lead massive changes
in women's health and civil rights and has empowered millions of women,
men, and young people worldwide to make informed health decisions,
transforming the way they live, love, learn, and work;
Whereas Planned Parenthood has been at the forefront of fights for social
change, including when the executive director of Planned Parenthood
League of Connecticut challenged a law preventing the distribution of
birth control, leading to the landmark 1964 Supreme Court ruling in
Griswold v. Connecticut, 379 U.S. 926, which finally allowed married
women across the country to have legal access to birth control;
Whereas Planned Parenthood health care providers and staff have played important
roles in increasing access to safe and legal abortion, and have
successfully advocated for measures that increase access to birth
control, including the Affordable Care Act requirement that private
insurance plans provide coverage for birth control with no out-of-pocket
costs;
Whereas many leaders, including those in the domestic and global reproductive
health, rights, and justice communities, have worked alongside Planned
Parenthood in accomplishing these achievements;
Whereas breakthroughs in women's health care, such as the legalization and
expanded availability of birth control, have been named one of the
biggest economic advancements for women in the past 100 years;
Whereas changes in women's access to reproductive health care have led to
cultural shifts: in the United States, women are now nearly half the
workforce, the sole or primary breadwinners in 40 percent of homes, and
more than half of the college students;
Whereas from the single Brooklyn clinic in 1916, Planned Parenthood has grown to
approximately 650 clinics across the United States, with partners in a
dozen countries in Africa and Latin America;
Whereas today Planned Parenthood proudly provides high-quality, affordable
health care, with 90 percent of services provided being preventive
health care for women, men, and young people;
Whereas Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of sex education in the
United States;
Whereas an estimated 1 in 5 women in the United States have been to a Planned
Parenthood clinic for care at some point in their lives, and, for many
people, a Planned Parenthood clinic may be the only place they can turn
to for health care;
Whereas in a single year, Planned Parenthood clinics provide sexual and
reproductive health care, education, information, and outreach to
2,500,000 women, men, and adolescents in the United States and almost
2,000,000 women, men, and young people globally through its global
programs and partnerships, and over 72,000,000 people visit Planned
Parenthood's Web site;
Whereas in the past 10 years, Planned Parenthood has nearly doubled services for
male patients and expanded services for LGBTQ communities; and
Whereas Planned Parenthood's commitment to offer care and resources has grown
over the past century and is stronger than ever as it enters into its
second century: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the wide-ranging preventive services that
Planned Parenthood Federation of America doctors, nurses, and
staff provide every day to patients across the United States;
(2) recognizes that Planned Parenthood is a safety-net
provider that reaches medically underserved people who are
critically in need of compassionate care;
(3) declares that Planned Parenthood should not be
defunded, attacked, or discriminated against for their role as
a vital women's health care provider across the country; and
(4) affirms that Planned Parenthood remains an essential
thread in the fabric of society, and it will be key in the next
century to assisting millions of women, men, and young people
in accessing the health care they need and deserve, no matter
who they are or where they live.
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