[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 68 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 68

   Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 2023, 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 26, 2023

 Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Torres of 
  New York, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. 
 Stevens, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Chu, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Clarke of New York, 
   Ms. DelBene, Ms. Meng, Ms. McClellan, and Mr. Johnson of Georgia) 
 submitted the following concurrent 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 2023, 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 certain barrier methods of contraception, specifically condoms, 
        decreases the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and could 
        eliminate the 3,500,000 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 unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and 
        maternal deaths;
Whereas in economically developing countries, public health experts estimate 
        that access to contraceptives would result in 76,000,000 fewer 
        unintended pregnancies, 26,000,000 fewer unsafe abortions, and 186,000 
        fewer maternal deaths;
Whereas in the United States due to discrimination, significant racial, ethnic, 
        and socioeconomic disparities exist in sexual and reproductive health, 
        particularly in maternal mortality and morbidity 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;
Whereas research shows that both historically and today, medical racism has 
        resulted in experiments on communities of color, such as the misleading 
        and eugenics-based birth control trials on Puerto Rican women in the 
        1950s and the development of modern gynecology through the 
        experimentation and exploitation of enslaved Black women beginning in 
        the 1840s, has contributed to persistent feelings of mistrust among 
        Black women regarding their ability to access high-quality sexual and 
        reproductive health care;
Whereas effective contraception has been shown to be an important strategy to 
        maintaining and improving mental health and well-being for women and 
        other individuals who have the capacity to get pregnant;
Whereas planning, delaying, and spacing births helps people achieve their 
        education, career, and life 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 women 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 2-percent higher 
        family incomes as adults;
Whereas globally, access to contraception increases labor force participation, 
        boosting economic health and prosperity of economically developing 
        communities;
Whereas many women face challenges in accessing birth control and using it 
        effectively, and globally, 218,000,000 women in economically developing 
        countries have an unmet need for 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 one barrier to access is an appropriately trained, linguistically 
        appropriate, and culturally competent reproductive health care workforce 
        including primary care and other providers to ensure that all patients 
        have access to a contraceptive method of their choice including highly 
        effective reversible contraception methods;
Whereas more than 19,000,000 women of reproductive age in the United States are 
        in need of publicly funded contraception and live in a contraceptive 
        desert where they lack reasonable access in their county to a health 
        center that offers the full range of contraceptive methods;
Whereas 12 States in America allow some health care providers to refuse to 
        provide services related to contraception;
Whereas studies show that preventing young adults from accessing contraceptives 
        puts teens at risk of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted 
        diseases, including HIV;
Whereas emergency contraception is a safe way to prevent pregnancy after 
        unprotected sex, but 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 U.N., 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 have found 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, and include outcomes of appreciation of 
        sexual diversity, dating and intimate partner violence prevention, 
        development of healthy relationships, prevention of child sex abuse, 
        improved social and emotional learning, and increased media literacy, 
        but 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 such as 
        fragmentation of health services, discrimination from providers, and 
        insurance issues, all of which can be exacerbated by racism and 
        intersecting oppression;
Whereas there are continued efforts to defund or eliminate contraceptive 
        programs and falsely conflating emergency contraceptives and 
        intrauterine devices with abortion, 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 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 Employees Health 
        Benefits Program: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That--
            (1) it is the sense of Congress that Congress and the 
        Administration should take further steps to ensure that all 
        people have universal, expansive, high-quality access to free 
        or affordable contraception;
            (2) Congress and the Administration should ensure all 
        people capable of pregnancy have the 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) Congress and the Administration should examine and 
        support ways to expand comprehensive access to contraception, 
        including studying contraceptive deserts, new evidence-based 
        methods and innovations, and whether Federal policy solutions 
        can address these issues;
            (4) Congress 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) Congress and the Administration should expand training 
        of counseling, provision, and followup care for all forms of 
        highly effective reversible contraception methods to primary 
        care physicians to increase access to the most effective forms 
        of birth control available;
            (6) Congress aligns with scientific perspective that 
        ``contraception'' includes all current and future Food and Drug 
        Administration-approved, -granted, or -cleared methods, 
        including those available by prescription and over-the-counter, 
        and the World Health Organization defines contraception to 
        include female and male sterilization, the intrauterine 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);
            (7) Congress and the Administration should ensure that laws 
        governing contraception access are evidence-based and grounded 
        in accurate medical information;
            (8) Congress and the Administration should work to end 
        reproductive health disparities, including with regard to 
        ethnicity, race, gender identity, and sexual orientation;
            (9) Congress and the Administration should work to end 
        gender-based violence, which disproportionately affects women, 
        including transgender women;
            (10) Congress 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, access, and human rights;
            (11) Congress and the Administration should ensure that 
        United States foreign assistance includes support for 
        contraception services, safe abortion services, and quality 
        postabortion care, and domestic assistance includes support for 
        contraception services through title X family planning 
        providers and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and
            (12) this Congress does not support any policies that 
        undermine the effectiveness of domestic and global programs and 
        supports additional funding for global and domestic programs 
        that increase access to contraception 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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