IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 68 

Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 2023, as ‘‘World 

Contraception Day’’ and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding global and domestic access to contraception. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ (for herself, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. TORRES of New 

York, Mr. NADLER, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 

STEVENS, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. CHU, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. CLARKE of 

New York, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. MENG, Ms. MCCLELLAN, and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 

the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 

2023, as ‘‘World Contraception Day’’ and expressing the 

sense of the House of Representatives regarding global 

and domestic access to contraception. 

Whereas September 26 marks World Contraception Day, a 

day when organizations and individuals around the world 

advocate to improve awareness of contraception and the 

right to sexual and reproductive health; 

Whereas, in 1968, the United Nations International Conference on Human Rights declared that ‘‘parents have a 


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basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the 

number and spacing of their children’’; 

Whereas access to contraceptives in the United States is recognized as a fundamental right under the constitutional 

right to privacy through the Supreme Court’s decisions in 

Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) and 

Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972); 

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC) recognized family planning in its published list of 

the ‘‘Ten Greatest Public Health Achievements in the 

20th Century’’; 

Whereas target 3.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which was adopted by the United 

States and 192 other United Nations (UN) member 

states, calls on countries ‘‘by 2030, to ensure universal 

access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, 

and the integration of reproductive health into national 

strategies and programs’’; 

Whereas certain barrier methods of contraception, specifically 

condoms, decreases the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and could eliminate the 3,500,000 annual 

cases of infertility in low- and middle-income countries 

that are caused by untreated gonorrhea or chlamydia; 

Whereas the ability of individuals to control the number and 

spacing of their children reduces rates of unintended 

pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths; 

Whereas in economically developing countries, public health 

experts estimate that access to contraceptives would result in 76,000,000 fewer unintended pregnancies, 


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26,000,000 fewer unsafe abortions, and 186,000 fewer 

maternal deaths; 

Whereas in the United States due to discrimination, significant racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities exist in 

sexual and reproductive health, particularly in maternal 

mortality and morbidity and infant mortality with Black, 

American Indian, and Alaska Native women two to three 

times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes 

than White women; 

Whereas contraceptive choices are unduly influenced by structural racism, gender discrimination, and socioeconomic 

barriers; 

Whereas research shows that both historically and today, 

medical racism has resulted in experiments on communities of color, such as the misleading and eugenics-based 

birth control trials on Puerto Rican women in the 1950s 

and the development of modern gynecology through the 

experimentation and exploitation of enslaved Black 

women beginning in the 1840s, has contributed to persistent feelings of mistrust among Black women regarding their ability to access high-quality sexual and reproductive health care; 

Whereas effective contraception has been shown to be an important strategy to maintaining and improving mental 

health and well-being for women and other individuals 

who have the capacity to get pregnant; 

Whereas planning, delaying, and spacing births helps people 

achieve their education, career, and life goals; 

Whereas young women with access to the pill before age 21 

graduated from college in significantly higher numbers 


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than did women of the same era who came of age before 

the pill was available to them; 

Whereas children born to women with access to United States 

federally funded family planning programs, which increase access to affordable contraception and family planning services, were more likely to complete at least 12, 

13, and 16 years of schooling, and had 2-percent higher 

family incomes as adults; 

Whereas globally, access to contraception increases labor 

force participation, boosting economic health and prosperity of economically developing communities; 

Whereas many women face challenges in accessing birth control and using it effectively, and globally, 218,000,000 

women in economically developing countries have an 

unmet need for modern contraception; 

Whereas in the United States, one-third of adult United 

States women who have ever tried to obtain prescription 

contraception reported barriers to access; 

Whereas one barrier to access is an appropriately trained, linguistically appropriate, and culturally competent reproductive health care workforce including primary care and 

other providers to ensure that all patients have access to 

a contraceptive method of their choice including highly 

effective reversible contraception methods; 

Whereas more than 19,000,000 women of reproductive age in 

the United States are in need of publicly funded contraception and live in a contraceptive desert where they lack 

reasonable access in their county to a health center that 

offers the full range of contraceptive methods; 


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Whereas 12 States in America allow some health care providers to refuse to provide services related to contraception; 

Whereas studies show that preventing young adults from accessing contraceptives puts teens at risk of unintended 

pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, including 

HIV; 

Whereas emergency contraception is a safe way to prevent 

pregnancy after unprotected sex, but 9 States in America 

have adopted restrictions on emergency contraception by 

excluding emergency contraception from a State’s family 

planning program, contraceptive coverage mandate, or by 

allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency 

contraceptives; 

Whereas, according to the U.N., globally, 19 percent of governments apply one or more restrictions on contraceptive 

access, and these include restrictions on the age and marital status of the person seeking access to contraception, 

parental consent, and restrictions on access to emergency 

contraceptive pills or sterilization; 

Whereas researchers have found some women of color experience implicit and explicit racism when interacting with 

the medical system, lack of quality information about effective family planning methods, and an inability to access or afford reproductive health care; 

Whereas, while comprehensive sex education has been proven 

to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and STIs, and 

include outcomes of appreciation of sexual diversity, dating and intimate partner violence prevention, development of healthy relationships, prevention of child sex 

abuse, improved social and emotional learning, and inVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:49 Sep 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC68.IH HC68

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creased media literacy, but only 20 States and the District of Columbia require sex education to include information on birth control; 

Whereas globally, many countries have made advances in developing policies to improve access to comprehensive sex 

education, however, there remain significant gaps between global and regional policies and implementation on 

the ground such as limited teacher training capacity; 

Whereas existing research highlights uninsured women were 

30 percent less likely to report using prescription contraceptive methods than women with private or public health 

insurance and women identify affordability among the 

top three factors in determining which contraception to 

use; 

Whereas LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly transgender individuals undergoing transition, experience unique barriers 

to contraception access such as fragmentation of health 

services, discrimination from providers, and insurance 

issues, all of which can be exacerbated by racism and 

intersecting oppression; 

Whereas there are continued efforts to defund or eliminate 

contraceptive programs and falsely conflating emergency 

contraceptives and intrauterine devices with abortion, 

even though they are proven to reduce unintended pregnancies; 

Whereas reproductive justice is the human right to maintain 

personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities; 

Whereas people of color, indigenous people, immigrant communities, and people with disabilities have been exploited 


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in the service of contraceptive development, and been coerced into using contraception, or sterilized against their 

will, yet still face barriers to accessing contraception 

when they need it; and 

Whereas Congress has repeatedly recognized the importance 

of women’s ability to access contraceptives through support for the Medicaid program, title X of the Public 

Health Service Act, and the Federal Employees Health 

Benefits Program: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That— 

3 (1) it is the sense of Congress that Congress 

4 and the Administration should take further steps to 

5 ensure that all people have universal, expansive, 

6 high-quality access to free or affordable contracep7 tion; 

8 (2) Congress and the Administration should en9 sure all people capable of pregnancy have the auton10 omy to decide whether to have children, the number 

11 and spacing of their children, and to have medically 

12 accurate information, education, and access to 

13 health services to make these decisions and pursue 

14 reproductive justice; 

15 (3) Congress and the Administration should ex16 amine and support ways to expand comprehensive 

17 access to contraception, including studying contra18 ceptive deserts, new evidence-based methods and inVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:49 Sep 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC68.IH HC68

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1 novations, and whether Federal policy solutions can 

2 address these issues; 

3 (4) Congress and the Administration should en4 sure people have access to affordable, comprehen5 sive, consistent insurance coverage for all their re6 productive health care needs, including contraception 

7 and abortion; 

8 (5) Congress and the Administration should ex9 pand training of counseling, provision, and followup 

10 care for all forms of highly effective reversible con11 traception methods to primary care physicians to in12 crease access to the most effective forms of birth 

13 control available; 

14 (6) Congress aligns with scientific perspective 

15 that ‘‘contraception’’ includes all current and future 

16 Food and Drug Administration-approved, -granted, 

17 or -cleared methods, including those available by 

18 prescription and over-the-counter, and the World 

19 Health Organization defines contraception to include 

20 female and male sterilization, the intrauterine device 

21 (IUD), the implant, injectables, oral contraceptive 

22 pills, external and internal condoms, vaginal barrier 

23 methods (including the diaphragm, cervical cap, and 

24 spermicidal foam, jelly, cream, and sponge), 

25 lactational amenorrhea method (LAM), emergency 


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1 contraception, and other modern methods not re2 ported separately (for example, the contraceptive 

3 patch or vaginal ring); 

4 (7) Congress and the Administration should en5 sure that laws governing contraception access are 

6 evidence-based and grounded in accurate medical in7 formation; 

8 (8) Congress and the Administration should 

9 work to end reproductive health disparities, includ10 ing with regard to ethnicity, race, gender identity, 

11 and sexual orientation; 

12 (9) Congress and the Administration should 

13 work to end gender-based violence, which dispropor14 tionately affects women, including transgender 

15 women; 

16 (10) Congress and the Administration should 

17 expand comprehensive and gender-inclusive sex edu18 cation and patient-centered counseling, which in19 cludes accurate, age-appropriate information about 

20 one’s body, sexual and reproductive health, methods 

21 of contraception, access, and human rights; 

22 (11) Congress and the Administration should 

23 ensure that United States foreign assistance includes 

24 support for contraception services, safe abortion 

25 services, and quality postabortion care, and domestic 


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1 assistance includes support for contraception serv2 ices through title X family planning providers and 

3 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and 

4 (12) this Congress does not support any policies 

5 that undermine the effectiveness of domestic and 

6 global programs and supports additional funding for 

7 global and domestic programs that increase access to 

8 contraception such as those under title X, Medicaid, 

9 Federal health care providers, and the United States 

10 Agency for International Development’s Office of 

11 Population and Reproductive Health. 

Æ 


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