[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 109 (Thursday, June 22, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2241-S2242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 276--EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO THE USE OF STATE POWER 
  AGAINST PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES SEEKING ESSENTIAL HEALTH CARE, 
INCLUDING CRIMINALIZATION OF THE FULL RANGE OF SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE 
HEALTH CARE SUCH AS ABORTION, GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE, AND CONTRACEPTIVE 
    CARE, AND DISAPPROVING OF STATE PUNISHMENT OF PEOPLE FOR THEIR 
                           PREGNANCY OUTCOMES

  Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Stabenow, 
Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Warren, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. 
Wyden, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Padilla, Ms. Smith, Mr. Booker, Mr. Peters, and 
Mr. Fetterman) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:

                              S. Res. 276

       Whereas most people will need access to sexual and 
     reproductive health care at some point in their lifetimes, 
     whether it be abortion, contraception, or gender-affirming 
     care;
       Whereas the ability of people to access and make decisions 
     about the full range of sexual and reproductive health care 
     is essential to the health, well-being, and autonomy of all 
     people and to the health and well-being of society;
       Whereas providers of sexual, reproductive, and gender-
     affirming health care, and those who support people making 
     important health care decisions, are essential and play a 
     critical role in ensuring people are able to have control 
     over their own bodies and lives;
       Whereas people deserve to be treated with dignity, empathy, 
     compassion, and respect by their health care providers;
       Whereas people need their health care providers to be able 
     to provide or refer for essential health care without facing 
     punishment or criminal or civil charges for supporting the 
     autonomous decisions of an individual with respect to their 
     own body and life;
       Whereas no person should face State sanctioned punishment 
     for--
       (1) seeking or obtaining an abortion, or any pregnancy 
     outcome or decision;
       (2) seeking or using contraception;
       (3) seeking or obtaining gender-affirming care;
       (4) their sexual health status; or
       (5) for helping someone access the essential health care 
     they need;
       Whereas people have been penalized or prosecuted in the 
     United States for actions during their pregnancy that the 
     State alleged caused harm or risk to their pregnancies;

[[Page S2242]]

       Whereas people have been prosecuted for not seeking health 
     care, for experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth, for self-
     managing an abortion, for alcohol or drug use during 
     pregnancy, and for their HIV status;
       Whereas research shows there is an increased need and 
     demand for medications to self-manage an abortion in States 
     with abortion restrictions, and that self-managed abortion 
     with access to medications and accurate information is safe 
     and effective;
       Whereas the reasons why people self-manage an abortion are 
     varied and valid;
       Whereas States and localities have attempted to impose 
     civil and criminal penalties on people who help others access 
     the gender-affirming and reproductive health care they need, 
     including abortion care;
       Whereas at least 1 State has passed a law attempting to 
     restrict some out-of-State travel for abortions, and other 
     States have attempted to curtail out-of-State travel for 
     abortion care or the facilitation thereof, in violation of 
     basic constitutional principles, including the right to 
     travel;
       Whereas people have been and continue to be coerced or 
     forced to undergo unwanted medical procedures or surgical 
     interventions that negatively impact their sexual and 
     reproductive health, including involuntary sterilization, 
     involuntary cesarean sections, and procedures to change the 
     intersex traits of minors;
       Whereas coercive or unwanted medical or surgical 
     interventions that negate individual autonomy are distinct 
     from gender-affirming care, do not constitute essential 
     health care or sexual and reproductive health care, and are 
     not included within the full range of such care that this 
     resolution describes;
       Whereas more than 30 States around the country have 
     advanced legislation designed to severely limit access to 
     necessary gender-affirming care, especially for young people, 
     which is against the recommendations of major medical 
     organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics;
       Whereas 3 States have enacted, and nearly 15 have 
     introduced, legislation designed to criminalize and penalize 
     providing gender-affirming care to young people, providers of 
     gender-affirming care for young people, and the parents of 
     those young people for enabling access to this essential 
     care;
       Whereas some States are considering legislation that would 
     use the power of the State to remove children from the care 
     of their parent if that parent supports access to gender-
     affirming care for the child;
       Whereas States and localities have prohibited health care 
     providers from providing, and in some cases have criminalized 
     the provision of, gender-affirming and reproductive health 
     care, including abortion care, to patients who are seeking 
     such care whether in person or via telehealth;
       Whereas States and localities have attempted to prohibit 
     health care providers from referring, and in some cases have 
     attempted to criminalize the referral of, patients to out-of-
     State resources to receive the gender-affirming and 
     reproductive health care they seek, including abortion care;
       Whereas States have aimed to restrict the ability of 
     patients to access sexual and reproductive health care by 
     threatening provider licensure, certification, or renewal, if 
     even suspected of providing care, regardless of conviction;
       Whereas the threat of criminalization or prosecution can 
     result in a chilling effect by intimidating people into not 
     seeking or providing needed care;
       Whereas health care providers have an ethical obligation to 
     provide essential health care to their patients and to 
     protect the private medical information integral to the 
     patient-provider relationship;
       Whereas limiting the ability of a health care provider to 
     uphold their ethical obligations to provide essential health 
     care, including sexual and reproductive health care, to 
     patients is a violation of their rights and subjects them to 
     moral injury;
       Whereas the State advances no legitimate interest by 
     imposing civil or criminal penalties on medically appropriate 
     sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, 
     contraception, and gender-affirming care, and has no 
     legitimate interest in criminalizing pregnancy outcomes;
       Whereas State laws criminalizing sexual and reproductive 
     health care, including gender-affirming care and abortion 
     care, sometimes enacted under the guise of protection, 
     constitute an abuse of the power of the State that denies 
     individuals their fundamental rights;
       Whereas even when charges are dropped or the defendant is 
     exonerated, the long-term consequences of arrest or 
     prosecution are irreparable;
       Whereas Black, indigenous, people of color, immigrants, 
     people with low incomes, LGBTQI+ individuals, and other 
     marginalized individuals are more likely, due to persistent 
     disparities and oppression, to experience adverse pregnancy 
     outcomes that place them under the scrutiny of the legal 
     system;
       Whereas groups like the American Medical Association, 
     American Public Health Association, American Academy of 
     Pediatrics, American Society of Addiction Medicine, the 
     American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the 
     American Bar Association, and others oppose State-sanctioned 
     punishment for pregnancy outcomes and oppose criminalizing 
     providers and the provision of health care;
       Whereas Black, indigenous, people of color, immigrants, 
     people with low incomes, LGBTQI+ individuals, and other 
     marginalized individuals are more likely to be surveilled, 
     arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted, and heavily 
     punished within the criminal justice system;
       Whereas, in the 2022 Abortion Care Guidelines issued by the 
     World Health Organization, the World Health Organization 
     recommends the full decriminalization of abortion;
       Whereas human rights bodies, including the United Nations 
     Human Rights Committee, have long said that governments that 
     apply criminal sanctions against people who have an abortion, 
     or medical providers who assist people in having an abortion, 
     violate human rights principles and laws;
       Whereas human rights bodies have explicitly described 
     criminalization of abortion and attacks on LGBTQI+ health as 
     a form of gender-based violence;
       Whereas punishing people for their pregnancy outcomes or 
     for seeking or providing essential reproductive and sexual 
     health care, or supporting access to such care, violates 
     their fundamental rights; and
       Whereas several States have recognized these facts and 
     taken steps--
       (1) to repeal or reform laws that had been used to 
     criminalize pregnancy outcomes; and
       (2) to pass laws to increase access to abortion, 
     contraception, and gender-affirming care: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the application or use of criminal laws to 
     punish people for the outcomes of their pregnancies;
       (2) affirms that people deserve access to high-quality 
     health care without fear of reprisal or punishment;
       (3) condemns the criminalization of providing or supporting 
     access to essential health care;
       (4) affirms the ethical obligations of health care 
     providers to safeguard patient privacy and the private 
     medical information integral to the patient-provider 
     relationship; and
       (5) declares a goal for a future in which--
       (A) the ability of patients to access sexual and 
     reproductive health care, including abortion, contraception, 
     and gender-affirming care, is universally free from 
     restrictions, bans, and barriers; and
       (B) people are able--
       (i) to exercise self-determination in their reproductive 
     and sexual health; and
       (ii) manage care on their own terms, free from coercion, 
     discrimination, or punishment; and
       (6) affirms the commitment of Congress to working toward 
     the goal established in paragraph (5) in partnership with 
     providers, patients, advocates, and their communities.

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