•HCON 68 IH 
Whereas 12 States in America allow some health care pro-
viders to refuse to provide services related to contracep-
tion; 
Whereas studies show that preventing young adults from ac-
cessing 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 gov-
ernments apply one or more restrictions on contraceptive 
access, and these include restrictions on the age and mar-
ital 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 experi-
ence implicit and explicit racism when interacting with 
the medical system, lack of quality information about ef-
fective family planning methods, and an inability to ac-
cess 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, dat-
ing and intimate partner violence prevention, develop-
ment of healthy relationships, prevention of child sex 
abuse, improved social and emotional learning, and in-
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•HCON 68 IH 
creased media literacy, but only 20 States and the Dis-
trict of Columbia require sex education to include infor-
mation on birth control; 
Whereas globally, many countries have made advances in de-
veloping policies to improve access to comprehensive sex 
education, however, there remain significant gaps be-
tween 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 contra-
ceptive 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 indi-
viduals 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 preg-
nancies; 
Whereas reproductive justice is the human right to maintain 
personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have chil-
dren, and parent the children we have in safe and sus-
tainable communities; 
Whereas people of color, indigenous people, immigrant com-
munities, and people with disabilities have been exploited 
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•HCON 68 IH 
in the service of contraceptive development, and been co-
erced 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 sup-
port for the Medicaid program, title X of the Public 
Health Service Act, and the Federal Employees Health 
Benefits Program: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That— 
(1) it is the sense of Congress that Congress 
and the Administration should take further steps to 
ensure that all people have universal, expansive, 
high-quality access to free or affordable contracep-
tion; 
(2) Congress and the Administration should en-
sure all people capable of pregnancy have the auton-
omy to decide whether to have children, the number 
and spacing of their children, and to have medically 
accurate information, education, and access to 
health services to make these decisions and pursue 
reproductive justice; 
(3) Congress and the Administration should ex-
amine and support ways to expand comprehensive 
access to contraception, including studying contra-
ceptive deserts, new evidence-based methods and in-
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novations, and whether Federal policy solutions can 
address these issues; 
(4) Congress and the Administration should en-
sure people have access to affordable, comprehen-
sive, consistent insurance coverage for all their re-
productive health care needs, including contraception 
and abortion; 
(5) Congress and the Administration should ex-
pand training of counseling, provision, and followup 
care for all forms of highly effective reversible con-
traception methods to primary care physicians to in-
crease access to the most effective forms of birth 
control available; 
(6) Congress aligns with scientific perspective 
that ‘‘contraception’’ includes all current and future 
Food and Drug Administration-approved, -granted, 
or -cleared methods, including those available by 
prescription and over-the-counter, and the World 
Health Organization defines contraception to include 
female and male sterilization, the intrauterine device 
(IUD), the implant, injectables, oral contraceptive 
pills, external and internal condoms, vaginal barrier 
methods (including the diaphragm, cervical cap, and 
spermicidal 
foam, 
jelly, 
cream, 
and 
sponge), 
lactational amenorrhea method (LAM), emergency 
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contraception, and other modern methods not re-
ported separately (for example, the contraceptive 
patch or vaginal ring); 
(7) Congress and the Administration should en-
sure that laws governing contraception access are 
evidence-based and grounded in accurate medical in-
formation; 
(8) Congress and the Administration should 
work to end reproductive health disparities, includ-
ing with regard to ethnicity, race, gender identity, 
and sexual orientation; 
(9) Congress and the Administration should 
work to end gender-based violence, which dispropor-
tionately affects women, including transgender 
women; 
(10) Congress and the Administration should 
expand comprehensive and gender-inclusive sex edu-
cation and patient-centered counseling, which in-
cludes accurate, age-appropriate information about 
one’s body, sexual and reproductive health, methods 
of contraception, access, and human rights; 
(11) Congress and the Administration should 
ensure that United States foreign assistance includes 
support for contraception services, safe abortion 
services, and quality postabortion care, and domestic 
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assistance includes support for contraception serv-
ices through title X family planning providers and 
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and 
(12) this Congress does not support any policies 
that undermine the effectiveness of domestic and 
global programs and supports additional funding for 
global and domestic programs that increase access to 
contraception such as those under title X, Medicaid, 
Federal health care providers, and the United States 
Agency for International Development’s Office of 
Population and Reproductive Health. 
Æ 
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