IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 311 

Recognizing the importance of the decision of the Supreme Court, Griswold 

v. Connecticut, which 40 years ago held that married couples have 

a constitutional right to use contraceptives, thereby recognizing the legal 

right of women to control their fertility through birth control and providing for vast improvements in maternal and infant health and for 

significant reductions in the rate of unintended pregnancy, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 9, 2005 

Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. 

LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. SIMMONS, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mrs. BIGGERT, 

Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. FILNER, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. 

MALONEY, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Ms. WATSON, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN

of California, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. 

LANTOS, Mr. OWENS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Ms. HARMAN, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. CARSON, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Ms. SOLIS, 

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. STARK, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. 

WEXLER, Mr. FARR, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. 

INSLEE, and Mr. SANDERS) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the importance of the decision of the Supreme 

Court, Griswold v. Connecticut, which 40 years ago held 

that married couples have a constitutional right to use 

contraceptives, thereby recognizing the legal right of 

women to control their fertility through birth control 
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•HRES 311 IH 

and providing for vast improvements in maternal and 

infant health and for significant reductions in the rate 

of unintended pregnancy, and for other purposes. 

Whereas June 7, 2005, marks the 40th anniversary of the 

decision of the Supreme Court, Griswold v. Connecticut, 

in which the Court recognized the constitutional right of 

married couples to use contraception; 

Whereas in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Court affirmed 

Americans’ constitutional right to privacy and restrained 

the government’s power to interfere in fundamentally private and personal activities like managing our health, 

family planning, and child bearing; 

Whereas the decision paved the way for widespread use of 

birth control among American women; 

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(‘‘CDC’’) recognized family planning in its published list 

of the ‘‘Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 

20th Century’’; 

Whereas contraceptives are basic health care for women, 

many of whom use birth control throughout their childbearing years, for health purposes and family planning; 

Whereas birth control is a critical component of basic preventive health care for women and has been the driving force 

in reducing national rates of unintended pregnancy and 

the need for abortion; 

Whereas the ability of women to control their fertility and 

avoid unintended pregnancy has led to dramatic declines 

in maternal and infant mortality rates and has improved 

maternal and infant health; 
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•HRES 311 IH 

Whereas in 1965 there were 31.6 maternal deaths per 

100,000 live births but in 2000 the rate declined to 9.8 

such deaths per live births, and in 1965 24.7 infants 

under one year of age died per 1,000 live births but in 

2003 the rate declined to 7 such deaths per live births; 

Whereas publicly-funded family planning programs have increased the ability of women, regardless of economic status, to access birth control and experience the resulting 

health and economic benefits; 

Whereas public investment in this most basic preventive 

health care is extremely cost effective, and for every dollar spent on publicly-funded family planning, $3 is saved 

in pregnancy-related and newborn care cost to the Medicaid program alone; 

Whereas the Congress had repeatedly recognized the importance of women’s ability to access contraceptives through 

support for the Medicaid program, the program under 

title X of the Public Health Service Act, and the Federal 

Employee Health Benefits Program; 

Whereas 40 years after Griswold, many women still face challenges in accessing birth control and using it effectively; 

Whereas the United States has one of the highest rates of 

unintended pregnancy among Western nations, and each 

year half of the 6.3 million pregnancies in the Nation are 

unintended, with nearly half of those ending in abortion; 

Whereas, although teen pregnancy rates have dramatically 

declined, 78 percent of teen pregnancies are unintended 

and more than one-third of teen girls will become pregnant before age 20; and 

Whereas publicly-funded family planning clinics are the only 

source of health care for many uninsured and low-income 
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•HRES 311 IH 

women, and of the almost 17 million women who are in 

need of subsidized care, such clinics play a crucial role 

in serving 7 million of them, a number which grew by 

400,000 alone between 2000 and 2002 due to a rising 

uninsured population: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the House of Representatives recognizes the 

3 importance of the decision of the Supreme Court, 

4 Griswold v. Connecticut, which— 

5 (A) 40 years ago held that married couples 

6 have a constitutional right to use contracep7 tives—a right that the Court would extend to 

8 unmarried individuals within a decade; 

9 (B) recognized the legal right of women to 

10 control their fertility through birth control; 

11 (C) provided for vast improvements in ma12 ternal and infant health and significant reduc13 tions in the rate of unintended pregnancy; and 

14 (D) allowed women the ability to achieve 

15 personal educational and professional goals crit16 ical to the economic success of the Nation; and 

17 (2) it is the sense of the House of Representa18 tives that the Congress should take further steps to 

19 ensure that all women have universal access to af20 fordable contraception. 

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