[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 4, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3948-S3949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Right to Contraception Act

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am honored to join my colleagues and 
the Presiding Officer, whom I thank for his leadership, in voicing my 
support for the Right to Contraception Act.
  Truth be told, we shouldn't be here debating this issue. We shouldn't 
have to vote for legislation on it. Just 2 years ago, it would have 
been unimaginable that we would be turning the clock back not to the 
early 1970s, when Roe was decided, but to the 1960s, when the U.S. 
Supreme Court decided a case called Griswold v. Connecticut--yes, 
Griswold v. Connecticut--striking down the criminal prohibition against 
the use of contraception.
  That decision had a profound impact on women and American families, 
and it was all to the good. It, in effect, struck down a prohibition 
that was disregarded widely but still followed, with consequences that 
were both tragic and detrimental to women's health.
  Now we are in an era that regards the unthinkable as perfectly 
realistic, when my Republican colleagues here and across the country 
are working to ban or restrict access to abortion care and attempting 
to limit the ability of families to have children through IVF. No one 
could have thought that was possible just a couple of years ago.
  But in the post-Dobbs era, it is not only possible, it is common. 
Griswold v. Connecticut is still the law of the land, but it has been 
undercut deeply by Dobbs, and it has undermined the ability of families 
to decide when and whether to have children. We are talking here, not 
about abortion but about contraceptive care which gives women a chance 
to choose their own path in life and select their own timeline to 
pursue or continue an education or trade or advance further in the 
workforce. It gives them the freedom they

[[Page S3949]]

deserve as to when to have children as well as whether.
  This decision is deeply personal. I shouldn't have to say it. It 
should be a matter of assumption, but politicians in this building and 
in State capitols around the country take on the right to make that 
decision for everyone else, not just themselves.
  If my Republican colleagues really care about families and children, 
I would suggest they turn their attention to improving their lives in 
this world and support families rather than forcing people to have 
children that maybe they are not prepared to care for. And if they 
really care about women, how about maternal healthcare? I am struck by 
the fact--in fact, I am haunted by it--that maternal mortality rates in 
this country have actually been rising. Maternal mortality rates in the 
United States of America have been rising over recent years. It seems 
incomprehensible. Yes, we have cut infant mortality rates, but women 
still face heart disease, hemorrhage, infection, other kinds of 
complications, either before they give birth or within the year 
afterward and, of course, the mental health issues that can arise.
  To my Republican colleagues, if you care about women, let's support 
the moms who decide to have children but leave to them the decision 
about whether and when.
  In addition to determining their own futures, access to contraception 
is also access to critical healthcare. Since the landmark decision in 
Griswold, millions of women have safely used contraception to improve 
health outcomes for themselves, and birth control is revolutionary to 
anyone who has a life-threatening condition that prevents them from 
having a healthy pregnancy. Restricting access to birth control puts 
people in danger, preventable danger. Nearly 90 percent of women of 
reproductive age have used some form of birth control, and an 
overwhelming percentage of voters believe access to contraception is a 
basic right. It is a basic right.
  Overturning Roe represented a significant regression in our law, in 
morality, in practical health outcome. In the blink of an eye, younger 
generations were set back before their moms in their basic rights and 
protection, their access to healthcare.
  We have a responsibility in this body, at the pinnacle of our Federal 
system, to make sure that there is Federal protection against the 
attacks on reproductive care and ensure that generations of Americans 
don't have fewer rights than their parents. This bill is urgent in 
light of the continuing attack in State legislatures on women's access 
to healthcare and reproductive rights.
  I wish we weren't here, but we are, and we need to do the right 
thing. My colleagues have a choice. They can either support a woman's 
right to access contraception or they can oppose this bill and oppose 
that right. I think there really is no question about how that choice 
should be made, and I hope they will make it tomorrow when we vote on 
this measure.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.

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