II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 957 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to ensure that women members 

of the Armed Forces and their families have access to the contraception 

they need in order to promote the health and readiness of all members 

of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 27, 2017 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, 

Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BROWN, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. COONS, 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. FRANKEN, Mrs. 

GILLIBRAND, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. HEINRICH, Ms. HIRONO, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. 

MURPHY, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. REED, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. 

TESTER, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. 

WYDEN, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to ensure that 

women members of the Armed Forces and their families 

have access to the contraception they need in order to 

promote the health and readiness of all members of 

the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Contracep3 tion for Women Servicemembers and Dependents Act of 

4 2017’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress makes the following findings: 

7 (1) Women are serving in the Armed Forces at 

8 increasing rates, playing a critical role in the na9 tional security of the United States. Women com10 prise just over 15 percent of military service mem11 bers and more than 200,000 women serve on active 

12 duty in the Armed Forces or in the Selected Re13 serve. 

14 (2) More than 95 percent of women serving in 

15 the military are of reproductive age. And approxi16 mately 1,100,000 female spouses and dependents of 

17 active duty military personnel are of reproductive 

18 age. 

19 (3) TRICARE covered approximately 1,400,000 

20 women of reproductive age in 2015, including female 

21 spouses and dependents of active duty military per22 sonnel. For approximately 900,000 of these women, 

23 TRICARE was their only source of coverage. 

24 (4) Contraception is critical for women’s health 

25 and is highly effective at reducing unintended preg26 nancy. The Centers for Disease Control and PrevenVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Apr 28, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S957.IS S957

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1 tion describe contraception as one of the 10 greatest 

2 public health achievements of the twentieth century. 

3 (5) Contraceptive access is strongly connected 

4 to women’s greater educational and professional op5 portunities and increased lifetime earnings. In6 creased wages and increased control over reproduc7 tive decisions provide women with educational and 

8 professional opportunities that have increased gen9 der equality over the decades since contraception 

10 was introduced. 

11 (6) Studies have shown that when cost barriers 

12 to the full range of methods of contraception are 

13 eliminated, and women receive comprehensive coun14 seling on the various methods of contraception (in15 cluding highly effective and more expensive Long16 Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs)), rates of 

17 unintended pregnancy decline. Costs can be prohibi18 tive, particularly for LARCs which can have high 

19 upfront costs. 

20 (7) Research has also shown that investments 

21 in effective contraception save public and private 

22 dollars. 

23 (8) In order to fill gaps in coverage and access 

24 to preventive care critical for women’s health, the 

25 Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires all non-grandVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 29, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S957.IS S957

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1 fathered individual and group health plans to cover 

2 without cost-sharing preventive services, including a 

3 set of evidence-based preventive services for women 

4 supported by the Health Resources and Services Ad5 ministration (HRSA). These women’s preventive 

6 services include the full range of female-controlled 

7 U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved con8 traceptive methods, effective family planning prac9 tices, and sterilization procedures. HRSA has af10 firmed that contraceptive care includes contraceptive 

11 counseling, initiation of contraceptive use, and fol12 low-up care (e.g., management, and evaluation as 

13 well as changes to and removal or discontinuation of 

14 the contraceptive method). 

15 (9) Under the TRICARE program, service16 women on active duty have full coverage of all pre17 scription drugs, including contraception, without 

18 cost-sharing requirements. However, servicewomen 

19 not on active duty and female dependents of mem20 bers of the Armed Forces do not have similar cov21 erage of all prescription methods of contraception 

22 approved by the Food and Drug Administration 

23 without cost-sharing. 

24 (10) Studies indicate that servicewomen need 

25 comprehensive counseling for pregnancy prevention, 


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1 particularly in their predeployment preparations, 

2 and the lack thereof is contributing to unintended 

3 pregnancies among servicewomen. 

4 (11) Research studies based on the Department 

5 of Defense Survey of Health Related Behaviors 

6 Among Active Duty Military Personnel found a high 

7 unintended rate of pregnancy among servicewomen. 

8 Adjusting for the difference between age distribu9 tions in the Armed Forces and the general popu10 lation, the rate of unintended pregnancy among 

11 servicewomen is higher than among the general pop12 ulation. 

13 (12) The Defense Advisory Committee on 

14 Women in the Services (DACOWITS) has rec15 ommended that all the Armed Forces, to the extent 

16 that they have not already, implement initiatives 

17 that inform servicemembers of the importance of 

18 family planning, educate them on methods of contra19 ception, and make various methods of contraception 

20 available, based on the finding that family planning 

21 can increase the overall readiness and quality of life 

22 of all members of the Armed Forces. 

23 (13) Health care, including family planning for 

24 survivors of sexual assault in the Armed Forces is 

25 a critical issue, particularly given the prevalence of 


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1 sexual assault in the military. Recent data show that 

2 women in the military are five times more likely to 

3 be victims of sexual assault than men. Servicewomen 

4 who are survivors of sexual assault should not be 

5 treated differently from civilian survivors. The De6 partment of Defense reported that there were more 

7 than 3,000 reported sexual assaults involving service 

8 members in fiscal year 2011. 

9 (14) Servicewomen on active duty report rates 

10 of unwanted sexual contact at approximately 16 

11 times those of the comparable general population of 

12 women in the United States. Through regulations, 

13 the Department of Defense already supports a policy 

14 of ensuring that servicewomen who are sexually as15 saulted have access to emergency contraception. 

16 SEC. 3. CONTRACEPTION COVERAGE PARITY UNDER THE 

17 TRICARE PROGRAM. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1074d of title 10, United 

19 States Code, is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)— 

21 (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting 

22 ‘‘FOR MEMBERS AND FORMER MEMBERS’’ after 

23 ‘‘SERVICES AVAILABLE’’; and 

24 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub25 section (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)’’; 


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1 (2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub2 section (d); and 

3 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol4 lowing new subsections: 

5 ‘‘(b) CARE RELATED TO PREVENTION OF PREG6 NANCY.—Female covered beneficiaries shall be entitled to 

7 care related to the prevention of pregnancy described in 

8 subsection (d)(3). 

9 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON COST-SHARING FOR CERTAIN

10 SERVICES.—Notwithstanding section 1074g(a)(6), section 

11 1075, or section 1075a of this title or any other provision 

12 of law, cost-sharing may not be imposed or collected for 

13 care related to the prevention of pregnancy provided pur14 suant to subsection (a) or (b), including for any method 

15 of contraception provided, whether provided through a fa16 cility of the uniformed services, the TRICARE retail phar17 macy program, or the national mail-order pharmacy pro18 gram.’’. 

19 (b) CARE RELATED TO PREVENTION OF PREG20 NANCY.—Subsection (d)(3) of such section, as redesig21 nated by subsection (a)(2), is further amended by insert22 ing before the period at the end the following: ‘‘(including 

23 all methods of contraception approved by the Food and 

24 Drug Administration, contraceptive care (including with 

25 respect to insertion, removal, and follow up), sterilization 


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1 procedures, and patient education and counseling in con2 nection therewith)’’. 

3 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

4 1077(a)(13) of such title is amended by striking ‘‘section 

5 1074d(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1074d(d)’’. 

6 SEC. 4. EDUCATION ON FAMILY PLANNING FOR MEMBERS 

7 OF THE ARMED FORCES. 

8 (a) EDUCATION PROGRAMS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec11 retary of Defense shall establish a uniform standard 

12 curriculum that will be used in education programs 

13 on family planning for all members of the Armed 

14 Forces, including both men and women members. 

15 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

16 Congress that the education programs described in 

17 paragraph (1) should use the latest technology avail18 able to efficiently and effectively deliver information 

19 to members of the Armed Forces. 

20 (b) ELEMENTS.—The uniform standard curriculum 

21 established under subsection (a) shall include the fol22 lowing: 

23 (1) Information for members of the Armed 

24 Forces on active duty to make informed decisions re25 garding family planning. 


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1 (2) Information about the prevention of unin2 tended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infec3 tions, including human immunodeficiency virus. 

4 (3) Information on the importance of providing 

5 comprehensive family planning for members of the 

6 Armed Forces and their commanding officers and on 

7 the positive impact family planning can have on the 

8 health and readiness of the Armed Forces. 

9 (4) Current, medically accurate information. 

10 (5) Clear, user-friendly information on the full 

11 range of methods of contraception and where mem12 bers of the Armed Forces can access their chosen 

13 method of contraception. 

14 (6) Information on all applicable laws and poli15 cies so that members of the Armed Forces are in16 formed of their rights and obligations. 

17 (7) Information on patients’ rights to confiden18 tiality. 

19 (8) Information on the unique circumstances 

20 encountered by members of the Armed Forces, and 

21 the effects of such circumstances on the use of con22 traception. 


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1 SEC. 5. PREGNANCY PREVENTION ASSISTANCE AT MILI2 TARY TREATMENT FACILITIES FOR WOMEN 

3 WHO ARE SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS. 

4 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to pro5 vide in statute, and to enhance, existing regulations that 

6 require health care providers at military treatment facili7 ties to consult with survivors of sexual assault once clini8 cally stable regarding options for emergency contraception 

9 and any necessary follow-up care, including the provision 

10 of emergency contraception. 

11 (b) IN GENERAL.—The assistance specified in sub12 section (c) shall be provided at every military treatment 

13 facility to the following: 

14 (1) Any woman who presents at a military 

15 treatment facility and states to personnel of the fa16 cility that she is a victim of sexual assault or is ac17 companied by another individual who states that the 

18 woman is a victim of sexual assault. 

19 (2) Any woman who presents at a military 

20 treatment facility and is reasonably believed by per21 sonnel of such facility to be a survivor of sexual as22 sault. 

23 (c) ASSISTANCE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The assistance specified in 

25 this subsection shall include the following: 


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1 (A) The prompt provision by appropriate 

2 staff of the military treatment facility of com3 prehensive, medically and factually accurate, 

4 and unbiased written and oral information 

5 about all methods of emergency contraception 

6 approved by the Food and Drug Administra7 tion. 

8 (B) The prompt provision by such staff of 

9 emergency contraception to a woman upon her 

10 request. 

11 (C) Notification to the woman of her right 

12 to confidentiality in the receipt of care and 

13 services pursuant to this section. 

14 (2) NATURE OF INFORMATION.—The informa15 tion provided pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) shall be 

16 provided in language that is clear and concise, is 

17 readily comprehensible, and meets such conditions 

18 (including conditions regarding the provision of in19 formation in languages other than English) as the 

20 Secretary may provide in regulations prescribed pur21 suant to this section. 

Æ 


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