III 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 590 

Commemorating 100 years of health care services provided by Planned 

Parenthood. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. 

SHAHEEN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. BENNET, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, 

Mrs. BOXER, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. BOOKER, 

Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. WARREN, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. CANTWELL, and Mrs. 

FEINSTEIN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating 100 years of health care services provided 

by Planned Parenthood. 

Whereas, on October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger, her sister 

Ethel Byrne, and their activist friend Fania Mindell 

opened the first birth control health clinic in the United 

States in Brooklyn, New York, a groundbreaking and 

revolutionary act for women at that time; 

Whereas their clinic was founded on the idea that women 

should have the information and care they need to live 

strong, healthy lives and fulfill their dreams; 

Whereas Margaret Sanger in 1922 incorporated the American Birth Control League and in 1923 opened the first 


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•SRES 590 IS 

legal birth control center in the United States, the Birth 

Control Clinical Research Bureau, two organizations that 

would later merge to become Planned Parenthood Federation of America; 

Whereas leading up to 1916, the two most common causes 

of death for women of childbearing age in the United 

States were tuberculosis and complications from pregnancy and childbirth; 

Whereas over the past 100 years, gains in access to birth 

control, safe and legal abortion, and other reproductive 

health services have improved and transformed the lives 

of women, men, and young people in the United States 

and around the world; 

Whereas for the past century, Planned Parenthood has 

helped lead massive changes in women’s health and civil 

rights and has empowered millions of women, men, and 

young people worldwide to make informed health decisions, transforming the way they live, love, learn, and 

work; 

Whereas Planned Parenthood has been at the forefront of 

fights for social change, including when the executive director of Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut 

challenged a law preventing the distribution of birth control, leading to the landmark 1964 Supreme Court ruling 

in Griswold v. Connecticut, 379 U.S. 926, which finally 

allowed married women across the country to have legal 

access to birth control; 

Whereas Planned Parenthood health care providers and staff 

have played important roles in increasing access to safe 

and legal abortion, and have successfully advocated for 

measures that increase access to birth control, including 


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•SRES 590 IS 

the Affordable Care Act requirement that private insurance plans provide coverage for birth control with no outof-pocket costs; 

Whereas many leaders, including those in the domestic and 

global reproductive health, rights, and justice communities, have worked alongside Planned Parenthood in accomplishing these achievements; 

Whereas breakthroughs in women’s health care, such as the 

legalization and expanded availability of birth control, 

have been named one of the biggest economic advancements for women in the past 100 years; 

Whereas changes in women’s access to reproductive health 

care have led to cultural shifts: in the United States, 

women are now nearly half the workforce, the sole or primary breadwinners in 40 percent of homes, and more 

than half of the college students; 

Whereas from the single Brooklyn clinic in 1916, Planned 

Parenthood has grown to approximately 650 clinics 

across the United States, with partners in a dozen countries in Africa and Latin America; 

Whereas today Planned Parenthood proudly provides highquality, affordable health care, with 90 percent of services provided being preventive health care for women, 

men, and young people; 

Whereas Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of sex 

education in the United States; 

Whereas an estimated 1 in 5 women in the United States 

have been to a Planned Parenthood clinic for care at 

some point in their lives, and, for many people, a 

Planned Parenthood clinic may be the only place they can 

turn to for health care; 


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Whereas in a single year, Planned Parenthood clinics provide 

sexual and reproductive health care, education, information, and outreach to 2,500,000 women, men, and adolescents in the United States and almost 2,000,000 women, 

men, and young people globally through its global programs and partnerships, and over 72,000,000 people visit 

Planned Parenthood’s Web site; 

Whereas in the past 10 years, Planned Parenthood has nearly doubled services for male patients and expanded services for LGBTQ communities; and 

Whereas Planned Parenthood’s commitment to offer care and 

resources has grown over the past century and is stronger than ever as it enters into its second century: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the wide-ranging preventive serv3 ices that Planned Parenthood Federation of America 

4 doctors, nurses, and staff provide every day to pa5 tients across the United States; 

6 (2) recognizes that Planned Parenthood is a 

7 safety-net provider that reaches medically under8 served people who are critically in need of compas9 sionate care; 

10 (3) declares that Planned Parenthood should 

11 not be defunded, attacked, or discriminated against 

12 for their role as a vital women’s health care provider 

13 across the country; and 


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1 (4) affirms that Planned Parenthood remains 

2 an essential thread in the fabric of society, and it 

3 will be key in the next century to assisting millions 

4 of women, men, and young people in accessing the 

5 health care they need and deserve, no matter who 

6 they are or where they live. 

Æ 


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