[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 5, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S3993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 725--AFFIRMING THE LEGAL STATUS OF CONTRACEPTION 
  FOLLOWING THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISION IN DOBBS V. JACKSON WOMEN'S 
                HEALTH ORGANIZATION, 597 U.S. 215 (2022)

  Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mr. Graham, Mr. Daines, Mr. Grassley, 
Mr. Marshall, Mrs. Britt, Mr. Budd, and Mr. Rounds) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 725

       Whereas, in 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued 
     its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 
     597 U.S. 215 (2022), overturning the Court's prior decisions 
     in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood 
     v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992);
       Whereas, in issuing Dobbs, the Supreme Court invalidated 
     any Federal judicial precedent suggesting that the 
     Constitution of the United States guarantees the right of a 
     woman to abort her unborn child;
       Whereas the Supreme Court, ``to ensure that [its] decision 
     [was] not misunderstood or mischaracterized,'' explicitly 
     emphasized that the Dobbs decision ``concern[ed] the 
     constitutional right to abortion and no other right'' and 
     that ``nothing in [its] opinion should be understood to cast 
     doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion'';
       Whereas the sole effect of the decision in Dobbs was to 
     return ``the authority to regulate abortion . . . to the 
     people and their elected representatives'';
       Whereas some, for political advantage and with the aim of 
     sowing confusion and fear, have suggested that the Court's 
     decision in Dobbs restricts the ability or legal right of 
     women to access contraception in the several States; and
       Whereas Congress has the authority, under the 14th 
     Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, ``to 
     enforce, by appropriate legislation,'' the rights belonging 
     to the People of the United States, as guaranteed by the 
     Constitution of the United States: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) construes the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. 
     Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), as 
     having no effect on the legal right of a woman to access 
     contraception; and
       (2) interprets Dobbs to in no way require the various 
     agencies of the Federal Government to alter rules, 
     regulations, or policies governing access to contraception.

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