I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5051 

To ensure that employers cannot interfere in their employees’ birth control 

and other health care decisions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2014 

Ms. SLAUGHTER (for herself, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. NADLER, Mr. BERA of California, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. 

BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. CHU, Mr. CICILLINE, 

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLAY, Mr. 

COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DANNY K. 

DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. 

DOGGETT, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. ESTY, 

Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. 

GRAYSON, Ms. HAHN, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 

HOYER, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. EDDIE

BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KEATING, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KILMER, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Ms. KUSTER, Ms. LEE

of California, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, 

Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. BEN RAY LUJA ́N of New Mexico, Ms. MICHELLE

LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. MAFFEI, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. 

MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MENG, Mr. 

MICHAUD, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms. MOORE, Mr. MORAN, 

Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. 

PERLMUTTER, Mr. PETERS of Michigan, Mr. PETERS of California, Ms. 

PINGREE of Maine, Mr. POCAN, Mr. POLIS, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. 

RYAN of Ohio, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Mr. SCOTT

of Virginia, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SMITH of Washington, 

Ms. SPEIER, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THOMPSON

of California, Mr. TIERNEY, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TONKO, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. 

VAN HOLLEN, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WELCH, 

Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. BASS, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. 

GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Mr. KILDEE, 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. PASTOR of Arizona, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. VEASEY, 


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Ms. WATERS, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. HIGGINS, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. 

HORSFORD, and Mr. BECERRA) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means, 

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 

A BILL 

To ensure that employers cannot interfere in their employees’ 

birth control and other health care decisions. 

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 ‘‘Protect Women’s 

5 Health From Corporate Interference Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to ensure that employers 

8 that provide health benefits to their employees cannot 

9 deny any specific health benefits, including contraception 

10 coverage, to any of their employees or the covered depend11 ents of such employees entitled by Federal law to receive 

12 such coverage. 

13 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

14 Congress finds as follows: 

15 (1) Access to the full range of health benefits 

16 and preventive services, as guaranteed under Fed17 eral law or through Federal regulations, provides all 


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1 Americans with the opportunity to lead healthier 

2 and more productive lives. 

3 (2) Birth control is a critical health care service 

4 for women. Ninety-nine percent of sexually active 

5 women use birth control at least once in their life6 times, and the Centers for Disease Control and Pre7 vention declared it one of the Ten Great Public 

8 Health Achievements of the 20th Century. While the 

9 most common reason women use contraception is to 

10 prevent pregnancy, 58 percent of oral contraceptive 

11 users cite noncontraceptive health benefits as rea12 sons for using the method. Fourteen percent of birth 

13 control pill users, more than 1,500,000 women, rely 

14 on birth control pills for noncontraceptive purposes 

15 only. 

16 (3) In addition to providing health benefits for 

17 women, access to birth control has been directly con18 nected to women’s economic success and ability to 

19 participate in society equally. Women with access to 

20 birth control are more likely to have higher edu21 cational achievement and career achievement, and to 

22 be paid higher wages. 

23 (4) The independent, nonprofit Institute of 

24 Medicine recommends, as part of its recommended 

25 preventive health measures, that women’s preventive 


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1 health be covered by health plans with no cost-shar2 ing to promote optimal health of women. The Insti3 tute of Medicine noted that the contraceptive meth4 ods recommendation was one of the most important 

5 recommendations for women. 

6 (5) Affordability has long been a barrier to 

7 women being able to use birth control and other pre8 ventive health services effectively. A national survey 

9 of women who were currently using some form of 

10 contraception found that one-third would switch to a 

11 different method of contraception if they did not 

12 have to worry about cost. Women citing cost con13 cerns were twice as likely as other women to rely on 

14 less effective methods of contraception. 

15 (6) Three separate studies have found that lack 

16 of health coverage is significantly associated with re17 duced use of prescription contraceptives. 

18 (7) Cost-sharing requirements can dramatically 

19 reduce the use of preventive health care measures, 

20 particularly among lower-income women. Studies 

21 have shown that eliminating cost-sharing for the 

22 most effective forms of contraception (intrauterine 

23 devices, implants, and injectables) leads to sizable 

24 increases in the use of these methods. 


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1 (8) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care 

2 Act (Public Law 111–148) sought to remove the 

3 barrier to care by requiring all new health plans to 

4 cover recommended preventive services without cost5 sharing, which include women’s preventative serv6 ices. These services include all methods of contracep7 tion and sterilization approved by the Food and 

8 Drug Administration and related education and 

9 counseling, as prescribed by a health care provider. 

10 (9) The contraceptive coverage provision has 

11 been a success in increasing access to this critical 

12 health service for women. As of 2013, 47,000,000 

13 women were covered by this requirement. Women 

14 have saved $483,000,000 in out-of-pocket costs for 

15 oral contraceptives with no copayments in 2013 

16 compared to 2012. 

17 (10) The Journal of the American Medical As18 sociation reports that 7 out of 10 people in the 

19 United States support coverage of contraception, 

20 with significantly higher support among women, 

21 Hispanic Americans, and Black Americans. 

22 (11) An estimated 76,000,000 people in the 

23 United States, including 30,000,000 women, are 

24 newly eligible for expanded preventive services cov25 erage under the Patient Protection and Affordable 


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1 Care Act. A total of 48,500,000 women are esti2 mated to benefit from preventive services coverage 

3 without cost-sharing. 

4 (12) The most appropriate method of contra5 ception varies according to each individual woman’s 

6 needs and medical history. Women may have medical 

7 contraindications and thus not be able to use certain 

8 types of contraceptive methods. It is therefore vital 

9 that the full range of contraceptive methods ap10 proved by the Food and Drug Administration be 

11 available in order to ensure that each woman, in 

12 consultation with her medical provider, can make ap13 propriate decisions about her health care. 

14 (13) Covering proven preventative services like 

15 contraception lowers health care spending as it im16 proves health. The Federal Government experienced 

17 no increase in costs at all after it began covering 

18 contraceptives for Federal employees. A study by the 

19 National Business Group on Health estimated that 

20 it costs employers 15 to 17 percent more to not pro21 vide contraceptive coverage in employee health plans, 

22 accounting for the employer’s direct medical costs of 

23 pregnancy and indirect costs related to employee ab24 sence and reduced productivity. 


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1 (14) Dozens of cases have been filed in Federal 

2 court by employers that want to take this benefit 

3 away from their employees and the covered depend4 ents of such employees. 

5 (15) On June 30, 2014, the Supreme Court 

6 held, in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and 

7 Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Burwell, that 

8 some for-profit corporations can take away the birth 

9 control coverage guaranteed to their employees and 

10 the covered dependents of such employees through 

11 their group health plan. 

12 (16) In a dissent in those cases, Justice Ruth 

13 Bader Ginsburg states that in this ‘‘decision of star14 tling breadth . . . the exemption sought by Hobby 

15 Lobby and Conestoga . . . would deny legions of 

16 women who do not hold their employers’ beliefs ac17 cess to contraceptive coverage that the ACA would 

18 otherwise secure.’’ Justice Ginsburg also notes that 

19 the decision opens up the door to religiously ground20 ed employer objections to a whole host of health care 

21 services like ‘‘blood transfusions . . .. 

22 antidepressants . . . medications derived from pigs, 

23 including anesthesia . . . and vaccinations.’’. 

24 (17) The Supreme Court’s decision in those 

25 cases allows employers, that otherwise provide covVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:08 Jul 12, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5051.IH H5051

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1 erage of preventive health services, to deny their em2 ployees and the covered dependents of such employ3 ees contraceptive coverage and to treat a critical 

4 women’s health service differently than other com5 parable services. Legislation is needed to clarify that 

6 employers may not discriminate against their em7 ployees and dependents. 

8 (18) It is imperative that Congress act to rein9 state contraception coverage and to protect employ10 ees and the covered dependents of such employees 

11 from other attempts to take away coverage for other 

12 health benefits to which such employees and depend13 ents are entitled under Federal law. 

14 SEC. 4. ENSURING COVERAGE OF SPECIFIC BENEFITS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—An employer that establishes or 

16 maintains a group health plan for its employees (and any 

17 covered dependents of such employees) shall not deny cov18 erage of a specific health care item or service with respect 

19 to such employees (or dependents) where the coverage of 

20 such item or service is required under any provision of 

21 Federal law or the regulations promulgated thereunder. 

22 A group health plan, as defined in section 733(a) of the 

23 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 

24 U.S.C. 1191b(a)), sponsored by an employer, employee or25 ganization, or both, and any health insurance coverage, 


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1 as defined in section 2791(b) of the Public Health Service 

2 Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–91) is required to provide coverage 

3 required under the Public Health Service Act, including 

4 section 2713 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–13), in addi5 tion to other applicable requirements. 

6 (b) APPLICATION.—Subsection (a) shall apply not7 withstanding any other provision of Federal law, including 

8 Public Law 103–141. 

9 (c) REGULATIONS.—The regulations contained in 

10 sections 54.9815-2713A of title 26, 2590.715-2713A of 

11 title 29, and 147.131 of title 45, Code of Federal Regula12 tions, shall apply with respect to this section. The Depart13 ments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the 

14 Treasury may modify such regulations consistent with the 

15 purpose and findings of this Act. 

16 (d) ENFORCEMENT.—The provisions of this Act shall 

17 apply to plan sponsors, group health plans, and health in18 surance issuers as if enacted in the Employee Retirement 

19 Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), 

20 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), 

21 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Any failure by 

22 a plan sponsor, group health plan, or health insurance 

23 issuer to comply with the provisions of this Act shall be 

24 subject to enforcement through part 5 of subtitle B of title 

25 I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 


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1 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), section 2723 of the Public 

2 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–22), and section 

3 4980D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

Æ 


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