IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 561 
Expressing opposition to the use of State power against people in the United 
States seeking essential health care, including criminalization of the 
full range of sexual and reproductive health care such as abortion, 
gender-affirming care, and contraceptive care, and disapproving of State 
punishment of people for their pregnancy outcomes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 27, 2023 
Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. 
ESCOBAR, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. JA-
COBS, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, 
Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. NOR-
TON, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. EVANS, Mrs. TRAHAN, 
Mr. MORELLE, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. HIGGINS 
of New York, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. VARGAS, 
Ms. SEWELL, Mrs. MCCLELLAN, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TITUS, 
Mr. PETERS, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. FROST, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. TOKUDA, 
Mr. TRONE, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. MENG, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. 
MATSUI, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. TORRES of New York, Ms. BROWN, Ms. 
BARRAGA´N, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. WATSON 
COLEMAN, Ms. STRICKLAND, Ms. BUSH, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 
CASAR, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER- 
DOVE, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. CASTEN, 
Mr. MFUME, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. 
MCGARVEY, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. POCAN, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, 
Ms. PORTER, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. 
WILSON of Florida, and Mr. MCGOVERN) submitted the following resolu-
tion; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and 
in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
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•HRES 561 IH 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing opposition to the use of State power against 
people in the United States seeking essential health care, 
including criminalization of the full range of sexual and 
reproductive health care such as abortion, gender-affirm-
ing care, and contraceptive care, and disapproving of 
State punishment of people for their pregnancy out-
comes. 
Whereas most people will need access to sexual and reproduc-
tive health care at some point in their lifetimes, whether 
it be abortion, contraception, or gender-affirming care; 
Whereas the ability of people to access and make decisions 
about the full range of sexual and reproductive health 
care is essential to the health, well-being, and autonomy 
of all people and to the health and well-being of society; 
Whereas providers of sexual, reproductive, and gender-affirm-
ing health care, and those who support people making 
important health care decisions, are essential and play a 
critical role in ensuring people are able to have control 
over their own bodies and lives; 
Whereas people deserve to be treated with dignity, empathy, 
compassion, and respect by their health care providers; 
Whereas people need their health care providers to be able to 
provide or refer for essential health care without facing 
punishment or criminal or civil charges for supporting 
the autonomous decisions of an individual with respect to 
their own body and life; 
Whereas no person should face State-sanctioned punishment 
for— 
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•HRES 561 IH 
(1) seeking or obtaining an abortion, or any preg-
nancy outcome or decision; 
(2) seeking or using contraception; 
(3) seeking or obtaining gender-affirming care; 
(4) their sexual health status; or 
(5) for helping someone access the essential health 
care they need; 
Whereas people have been penalized or prosecuted in the 
United States for actions during their pregnancy that the 
State alleged caused harm or risk to their pregnancies; 
Whereas people have been prosecuted for not seeking health 
care, for experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth, for self- 
managing an abortion, for alcohol or drug use during 
pregnancy, and for their HIV status; 
Whereas research shows there is an increased need and de-
mand for medications to self-manage an abortion in 
States with abortion restrictions, and that self-managed 
abortion with access to medications and accurate infor-
mation is safe and effective; 
Whereas the reasons why people self-manage an abortion are 
varied and valid; 
Whereas States and localities have attempted to impose civil 
and criminal penalties on people who help others access 
the gender-affirming and reproductive health care they 
need, including abortion care; 
Whereas at least 1 State has passed a law attempting to re-
strict some out-of-State travel for abortions, and other 
States have attempted to curtail out-of-State travel for 
abortion care or the facilitation thereof, in violation of 
basic constitutional principles, including the right to trav-
el; 
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•HRES 561 IH 
Whereas people have been and continue to be coerced or 
forced to undergo unwanted medical procedures or sur-
gical interventions that negatively impact their sexual 
and reproductive health, including involuntary steriliza-
tion, involuntary cesarean sections, and procedures to 
change the intersex traits of minors; 
Whereas coercive or unwanted medical or surgical interven-
tions that negate individual autonomy are distinct from 
gender-affirming care, do not constitute essential health 
care or sexual and reproductive health care, and are not 
included within the full range of such care that this reso-
lution describes; 
Whereas more than 30 States around the country have ad-
vanced legislation designed to severely limit access to nec-
essary gender-affirming care, especially for young people, 
which is against the recommendations of major medical 
organizations, including the American Academy of Pedi-
atrics; 
Whereas 3 States have enacted, and nearly 15 have intro-
duced, legislation designed to criminalize and penalize 
providing gender-affirming care to young people, pro-
viders of gender-affirming care for young people, and the 
parents of those young people for enabling access to this 
essential care; 
Whereas some States are considering legislation that would 
use the power of the State to remove children from the 
care of their parent if that parent supports access to gen-
der-affirming care for the child; 
Whereas States and localities have prohibited health care pro-
viders from providing, and in some cases have 
criminalized the provision of, gender-affirming and repro-
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•HRES 561 IH 
ductive health care, including abortion care, to patients 
who are seeking such care whether in person or via tele-
health; 
Whereas States and localities have attempted to prohibit 
health care providers from referring, and in some cases 
have attempted to criminalize the referral of, patients to 
out-of-State resources to receive the gender-affirming and 
reproductive health care they seek, including abortion 
care; 
Whereas States have aimed to restrict the ability of patients 
to access sexual and reproductive health care by threat-
ening provider licensure, certification, or renewal, if even 
suspected of providing care, regardless of conviction; 
Whereas the threat of criminalization or prosecution can re-
sult in a chilling effect by intimidating people into not 
seeking or providing needed care; 
Whereas health care providers have an ethical obligation to 
provide essential health care to their patients and to pro-
tect the private medical information integral to the pa-
tient-provider relationship; 
Whereas limiting the ability of a health care provider to up-
hold their ethical obligations to provide essential health 
care, including sexual and reproductive health care, to 
patients is a violation of their rights and subjects them 
to moral injury; 
Whereas the State advances no legitimate interest by impos-
ing civil or criminal penalties on medically appropriate 
sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, 
contraception, and gender-affirming care, and has no le-
gitimate interest in criminalizing pregnancy outcomes; 
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•HRES 561 IH 
Whereas State laws criminalizing sexual and reproductive 
health care, including gender-affirming care and abortion 
care, sometimes enacted under the guise of protection, 
constitute an abuse of the power of the State that denies 
individuals their fundamental rights; 
Whereas, even when charges are dropped or the defendant is 
exonerated, the long-term consequences of arrest or pros-
ecution are irreparable; 
Whereas Black, indigenous, people of color, immigrants, peo-
ple with low incomes, LGBTQI+ individuals, and other 
marginalized individuals are more likely, due to persistent 
disparities and oppression, to experience adverse preg-
nancy outcomes that place them under the scrutiny of the 
legal system; 
Whereas groups like the American Medical Association, 
American Public Health Association, American Academy 
of Pediatrics, American Society of Addiction Medicine, 
the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 
the American Bar Association, and others oppose State- 
sanctioned punishment for pregnancy outcomes and op-
pose criminalizing providers and the provision of health 
care; 
Whereas Black, indigenous, people of color, immigrants, peo-
ple with low incomes, LGBTQI+ individuals, and other 
marginalized individuals are more likely to be surveilled, 
arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted, and heavily pun-
ished within the criminal justice system; 
Whereas, in the 2022 Abortion Care Guidelines issued by the 
World Health Organization, the World Health Organiza-
tion recommends the full decriminalization of abortion; 
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•HRES 561 IH 
Whereas human rights bodies, including the United Nations 
Human Rights Committee, have long said that govern-
ments that apply criminal sanctions against people who 
have an abortion, or medical providers who assist people 
in having an abortion, violate human rights principles 
and laws; 
Whereas human rights bodies have explicitly described crim-
inalization of abortion and attacks on LGBTQI+ health 
as a form of gender-based violence; 
Whereas punishing people for their pregnancy outcomes or 
for seeking or providing essential reproductive and sexual 
health care, or supporting access to such care, violates 
their fundamental rights; and 
Whereas several States have recognized these facts and taken 
steps— 
(1) to repeal or reform laws that had been used to 
criminalize pregnancy outcomes; and 
(2) to pass laws to increase access to abortion, con-
traception, and gender-affirming care: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns the application or use of criminal 
laws to punish people for the outcomes of their preg-
nancies; 
(2) affirms that people deserve access to high- 
quality health care without fear of reprisal or pun-
ishment; 
(3) condemns the criminalization of providing 
or supporting access to essential health care; 
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•HRES 561 IH 
(4) affirms the ethical obligations of health care 
providers to safeguard patient privacy and the pri-
vate medical information integral to the patient-pro-
vider relationship; and 
(5) declares a goal for a future in which— 
(A) the ability of patients to access sexual 
and reproductive health care, including abor-
tion, contraception, and gender-affirming care, 
is universally free from restrictions, bans, and 
barriers; and 
(B) people are able— 
(i) to exercise self-determination in 
their reproductive and sexual health; and 
(ii) manage care on their own terms, 
free from coercion, discrimination, or pun-
ishment; and 
(6) affirms the commitment of Congress to 
working toward the goal established in paragraph 
(5) in partnership with providers, patients, advo-
cates, and their communities. 
Æ 
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