I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5650 

To amend title X of the Public Health Service Act to provide for no discrimination under the family planning program under such title on the basis 

of separate provision of abortion. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 9, 2012 

Mr. DOLD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend title X of the Public Health Service Act to provide 

for no discrimination under the family planning program 

under such title on the basis of separate provision of 

abortion. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Women’s 

5 Access to Health Care Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The family planning program under title X 

2 of the Public Health Service Act was created in 

3 1970 to ensure low-income women have access to 

4 birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, 

5 and other basic health care services. 

6 (2) Under current law, funds provided under 

7 such title X cannot be used in programs where abor8 tion is a method of family planning. 

9 (3) Federal courts have consistently held that it 

10 is a violation of Federal law for States to discrimi11 nate against health care providers by excluding such 

12 providers from participating in title X on the basis 

13 that such providers provide abortion services using 

14 funds that are not provided under such title X (re15 ferred to in this section as ‘‘non-title X funding’’). 

16 (4) Despite these court findings, State and local 

17 governments continue to seek to pass laws intended 

18 to prevent health care providers from being eligible 

19 for funding under such title X on the basis that such 

20 providers provide abortion services with non-title X 

21 funding. 

22 (5) These State laws threaten access to life23 saving cancer screenings, birth control, and 

24 screenings for sexually transmitted infections for 

25 women across the country. 


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1 (6) Therefore, this Act clarifies and reaffirms 

2 existing Federal law that prohibits a Federal agency 

3 or program or a State or local government from ex4 cluding qualified health care providers from partici5 pating in the Federal title X program on the basis 

6 of the scope of practice of such providers and the 

7 provision by such providers of abortion services with 

8 non-title X funding. 

9 SEC. 3. NO DISCRIMINATION UNDER THE TITLE X FAMILY 

10 PLANNING PROGRAM ON BASIS OF SEPARATE 

11 PROVISION OF ABORTION WITH NON-TITLE X 

12 FUNDING. 

13 Title X of the Public Health Service Act is amended 

14 by adding at the end the following new section: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 1009. NO DISCRIMINATION ON BASIS OF SEPARATE 

16 PROVISION OF ABORTION WITH NON-TITLE X 

17 FUNDING. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any entity that receives a grant 

19 or contract under this title may not subject any institu20 tional or individual health care entity to discrimination on 

21 the basis of whether the health care entity separately pro22 vides or refers for abortions, provides employees coverage 

23 of abortions, or provides or requires training in the per24 formance of abortions. 


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1 ‘‘(b) HEALTH CARE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this sec2 tion, the term ‘health care entity’ includes an individual 

3 physician or other health care professional, a hospital, or 

4 any other kind of health care facility or organization.’’. 

Æ 


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