[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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