[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 86 (Thursday, May 24, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2938-S2939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 526--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT 
 POLITICIANS SHOULD NOT INTERFERE WITH A WOMAN'S PERSONAL HEALTH CARE 
  DECISIONS OR ATTEMPT TO PREVENT PROVIDERS FROM OFFERING THEIR FULL 
               MEDICAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO THEIR PATIENTS

  Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Ms. Baldwin, and Mrs. Gillibrand) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:

                              S. Res. 526

       Whereas, since the enactment of title X of the Public 
     Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300 et seq.) (referred to in 
     this preamble as the ``title X family planning program'') 
     nearly half a century ago, the title X family planning 
     program has provided family planning and related preventive 
     health care services to those most in need and has enjoyed 
     broad bipartisan support;
       Whereas the title X family planning program was created to 
     assist in making comprehensive voluntary family planning 
     services readily available to all individuals desiring those 
     services and to enable public and nonprofit private entities 
     to plan and develop comprehensive programs that provide those 
     family planning services;
       Whereas the title X family planning program serves 
     4,000,000 individuals each year, many of whom would otherwise 
     be unable to access the types of health care services 
     supported under the title X family planning program;
       Whereas the title X family planning program helps ensure 
     that every individual, regardless of where the individual 
     lives, how much money the individual earns, the background of 
     the individual, or whether or not the individual has health 
     insurance, has access to basic, preventive reproductive 
     health care, such as birth control, cancer screenings, 
     sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, and well-
     woman exams;
       Whereas the title X family planning program serves a 
     racially and ethnically diverse patient base, not less than 
     \1/3\ of patients served under the title X family planning 
     program are people of color, and 13 percent of patients 
     served under the title X family planning program have limited 
     proficiency in English;
       Whereas, for decades, individuals receiving services 
     supported under the title X family planning program have been 
     given the full range of information needed to make fully 
     informed decisions about their own pregnancy options, 
     including access to safe and legal abortion;
       Whereas efforts to stigmatize abortion care and providers 
     of abortion care undermine the ability of patients to make 
     fully informed health care decisions;
       Whereas the Code of Medical Ethics of the American Medical 
     Association states that health care providers should 
     ``[p]resent relevant information accurately and sensitively, 
     in keeping with the patient's preferences'' and that 
     ``withholding information without the patient's knowledge or 
     consent is ethically unacceptable'';
       Whereas the 1982 report of the President's Commission for 
     the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and in Biomedical 
     and Behavioral Research stated that, ``a physician is obliged 
     to mention all alternative treatments, including those he or 
     she does not provide or favor, so long as they are supported 
     by respectable medical opinion'';

[[Page S2939]]

       Whereas any policy that denies a patient seeking care from 
     a health care provider receiving support under the title X 
     family planning program full and accurate information on and 
     referral for health care services, including abortion care, 
     violates basic medical ethics by forcing the health care 
     provider to withhold health care information from the patient 
     and by denying the basic right of the patient to informed 
     consent;
       Whereas health care providers receiving support under the 
     title X family planning program must not be subject to any 
     limitation on providing full and accurate information so that 
     those health care providers may communicate freely with 
     patients and exercise their medical judgment in order to 
     provide the safest and most beneficial medical treatment for 
     each patient; and
       Whereas any policy that seeks to prevent health care 
     providers receiving support under the title X family planning 
     program from providing full and accurate information and 
     referral for health care services threatens patient health, 
     discourages honest conversation, and undermines the vital 
     relationship between health care providers and patients, who 
     rely on their health care providers for complete and accurate 
     information: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate--
       (1) to recognize that the health of a patient should always 
     come first and patients must be able to rely on their health 
     care providers for medically accurate and evidence-based 
     information about the full range of health care options, 
     including information about access to safe and legal 
     abortion;
       (2) to urge the development and maintenance of trust 
     between patients and health care providers by protecting the 
     ability of health care providers to give complete medical 
     advice and information in order to ensure no harm to patient 
     health;
       (3) to encourage efforts to enhance patient quality of care 
     and access to confidential and safe care for all patients;
       (4) to support efforts to promote the health care safety 
     net;
       (5) to recognize that any nationwide gag rule prohibiting 
     information flow between patients and health care providers 
     represents a radical departure from how health care has 
     operated in the United States and fundamentally erodes the 
     right of patients to informed consent and the ability of 
     health care providers to provide appropriate and adequate 
     health care and information; and
       (6) to oppose efforts seeking to limit access to, and full 
     information on, reproductive health care options in 
     contradiction with the congressional intent underlying title 
     X of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300 et seq.).

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