[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 72 (Thursday, May 13, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E847-E848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF ``ACCESS TO BIRTH CONTROL ACT''

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 13, 2010

  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, today I am reintroducing the Access to 
Birth Control (ABC) Act along with 12 other Members of the House of 
Representatives. Senator Frank Lautenberg is introducing companion 
legislation in the Senate. Ninety-eight percent of American women use 
birth control at some point in their lives. This bill ensures that any 
woman who would like birth control and who has a legal prescription or 
is seeking over-the-counter emergency contraception, will be able to 
get it in a timely and convenient manner.
  The ABC Act would make it illegal for a pharmacist to refuse to 
return a birth control prescription, or for a pharmacist to intimidate, 
threaten, or harass customers, or intentionally breach, or threaten to 
breach, medical confidentiality.
  Under my bill, if a pharmacist on duty refuses to fill the 
prescription, then the pharmacy must ensure that another employee on 
staff fills the prescription for the customer without delay.
  Very simply, this legislation ensures a woman's legal access to birth 
control.
  An alarming trend has erupted in some pharmacies across the nation. 
Over the past few years, there have been increasing reports of 
pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control pills. In 
some cases, pharmacists have kept and refused to transfer a 
prescription, refused to sell over-the-counter emergency contraception, 
or given the customer false medical information about the requested 
birth control. Pharmacists have taken it upon themselves to decide 
whose prescription they will fill and which over the counter medication 
they will provide.
  Despite action by the Food and Drug Administration to make emergency 
contraception available without a prescription to women over the age of 
17, refusals among pharmacists continue to be a problem. Access to 
birth control is especially important for women living in

[[Page E848]]

rural areas who may not have multiple pharmacies near them and for 
women from low-income communities who lack the resources to find 
another pharmacy in the appropriate time. Women from all walks of life 
are being traumatized and humiliated at the hands of pharmacists who 
are denying them their right to contraception based on their own 
personal beliefs.
  The Access to Birth Control, ABC, Act is an important step in 
protecting a woman's constitutional right to contraception. Birth 
control and emergency contraception are part of women's basic health 
care and pharmacists should not have the right to interfere.

                          ____________________