[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 4, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3946-S3947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Right to Contraception Act

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, we have had a dismal history recently with 
the U.S. Supreme Court. In my view, it has totally failed the American 
people.
  In the name of States' rights, the Supreme Court has taken away 
freedom and caused distress and uncertainty for women and individuals 
across the country. It is outrageous that, because of this Court and 
this decision, people have fewer rights today than they did 50 years 
ago. Of course, I refer to the Dobbs decision, in which the Supreme 
Court--to its everlasting shame and in its infamy--took away a 
constitutional right.
  It should be noted that, in a post-Dobbs world, women are leaning on 
contraceptive care more, and doctors see more demand. That now is 
threatened. For anyone who read that Dobbs decision and the Thomas 
concurrence in that decision, he laid it out where he at least intends 
to go.
  There seems to be some confusion among my colleagues across the aisle 
about what this bill is and how important reproductive healthcare is, 
and I thank the Presiding Officer for his leadership on this with our 
colleague from Hawaii.
  It is very important as everyone needs access both to whatever birth 
control options make the most sense to them and access to whatever 
preventive healthcare makes sense to them. Contraceptives can help 
prevent and treat medical conditions. This is about ensuring that every 
person in every ZIP Code has access to the birth control that they need 
if they need it.
  This is the right of women and every individual to make decisions 
about their bodies and their futures. Politicians should not be 
involved. The Court shouldn't even be intimating it is threatening to 
take that away, and this legislation is needed to guarantee that they 
won't.
  After Roe was overturned in June 2022, Vermont voters went to the 
polls. They took their own liberty into their own hands after not being 
able to rely on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect it. In article 22 of 
the Vermont Constitution--a new amendment--it permanently protects 
reproductive liberties.
  It says:

       That an individual's right to personal reproductive 
     autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine 
     one's own life course and shall not be denied or infringed 
     unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by 
     the least restrictive means.

  This would stop future anti-choice legislation from advancing in our 
State of Vermont.
  We enacted comprehensive legislation in 2019 in Vermont, under a 
Republican Governor, that would ``recognize

[[Page S3947]]

as a fundamental right the freedom of reproductive choice'' and 
``prohibit public entities from interfering with or restricting the 
right of an individual to terminate the individual's pregnancy.''
  As far back as 1972, the Vermont Supreme Court became the fourth 
State in the Nation to legalize abortion. Vermont has a long history of 
protecting reproductive rights and standing up for the rights of women.
  Also, contraception is supported by the American people. It is widely 
used by women. People who can get pregnant need it and use it. There 
are 9 out of 10 voters who ``want it to be legal'' and 3 out of 4 who 
want to have easier access. There are 78 percent who say ``they see it 
as basic healthcare for women,'' and 72 percent are ``thankful it 
allows them to manage several health conditions.''
  So it is absolutely essential, in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court 
and what it did to deprive women of their own right to choose by 
reversing the Roe v. Wade decision that was so enshrined in our law and 
part of our society for 50 years, that we in the Senate take all action 
possible to guarantee that women's rights will be protected.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I am so glad to come to the floor today 
to support my colleagues--the Presiding Officer, who is Senator Markey, 
and Senator Hirono--as you champion a great and necessary bill, the 
Right to Contraception Act. I am proud to stand with my colleagues, and 
I am so proud to support this bill.
  You know, today should have been a day of celebration. It was the 
105th anniversary of the Senate's passing the 19th Amendment--one of 
the greatest amendments ever passed--granting women the right to vote 
under the U.S. Constitution. That was truly a proud moment for this 
Chamber and one of the greatest victories ever in the march toward 
women's equality--a march that New York proudly advanced. Upstate New 
York was a hotbed for the women's suffrage movement, including in 
places like Seneca Falls.
  But, on this 105th anniversary of the 19th Amendment's passage, we 
must confront the ugly truth that women, sadly, have fewer freedoms 
today than they did just a few years ago, because, a few weeks from 
now, America will observe a different anniversary, a much darker 
anniversary, that of the MAGA Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. 
Wade. Thanks to that decision and thanks to the hard right's war on 
women, reproductive freedoms are at their lowest point in modern 
history, and who knows how far the hard right will go. Two years ago, 
the MAGA Court eliminated the protections of Roe. Tomorrow, it could be 
something else. Maybe, it could be the Griswold decision that protected 
the right to use birth control.
  To those who think that is outlandish or impossible to happen, just 
remember Clarence Thomas himself opened the door to this possibility in 
his concurring opinion on the day Roe was overturned. We are kidding 
ourselves if we think the hard right is satisfied with simply 
overturning Roe. And, for all those who say it can never happen, 
remember people said that before Dobbs--that Roe would never be 
overturned. Of course, unfortunately, it was by the rightwing MAGA 
Court, appointed by Donald Trump and our Republican colleagues here in 
the Senate.
  So, tomorrow, the Senate will act. We will vote to move forward on 
the Right to Contraception Act. Supporting Federal protections for 
contraceptives should be the definition of what is a simple, 
commonsense, and easy choice. The bill we will vote on tomorrow simply 
says: If you want access to birth control or if your healthcare 
provider wants to prescribe birth control, the government has no right 
to interfere.
  Doesn't that seem like common sense? After all, access to birth 
control is something that 90 percent of Americans support.
  Of course, we are already hearing the same predictable, tired, and 
unpersuasive retorts from the other side: that this vote is somehow 
unnecessary; that birth control could never possibly be at risk; that 
this is much ado about nothing. That is simply not true.
  To those who argue Federal protections for birth control are 
unnecessary, go ask the people of Virginia what they think after their 
Republican Governor vetoed a bill that would have protected 
contraceptives at the State level. Go ask the people of Nevada what 
they think after their Republican Governor also vetoed a bill to 
protect access to birth control. To those who say birth control will 
never fall at risk, go ask the people of Florida or Arizona or Idaho or 
Iowa or Missouri. In each of these States, Republican Governors or 
Republican State legislators are on record blocking protections for 
birth control access in some form or another.
  It is unacceptable--simply unacceptable--for Americans to even 
question whether or not access to birth control should fall at risk, 
but that is precisely the worry one in five Americans has today. We can 
eliminate that worry in one fell swoop by passing the Right to 
Contraception Act.
  I hope both sides join together to show strong support for this 
essential bill tomorrow when we vote on it.