IV 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 53 
Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 2025, as ‘‘World 
Contraception Day’’ and expressing the sense of the House of Represent-
atives regarding global and domestic access to contraception. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 26, 2025 
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. CHU, and Ms. DELBENE) 
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, 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 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 
2025, as ‘‘World Contraception Day’’ and expressing the 
sense of the House of Representatives regarding global 
and domestic access to contraception. 
Whereas September 26 marks World Contraception Day, a 
day when organizations and individuals around the world 
advocate to improve awareness of contraception and the 
right to sexual and reproductive health; 
Whereas, in 1968, the United Nations International Con-
ference on Human Rights declared that ‘‘parents have a 
basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the 
number and spacing of their children’’; 
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•HCON 53 IH 
Whereas access to contraceptives in the United States is rec-
ognized as a fundamental right under the constitutional 
right to privacy through the Supreme Court’s decisions in 
Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479 (1965)) and 
Eisenstadt v. Baird (405 U.S. 438 (1972)); 
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rec-
ognized family planning in its published list of the ‘‘Ten 
Greatest Public Health Achievements in the 20th Cen-
tury’’; 
Whereas target 3.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals, which was adopted by the United States 
and 192 other United Nations (UN) member states, calls 
on countries ‘‘by 2030, to ensure universal access to sex-
ual and reproductive health-care services, including for 
family planning, information and education, and the inte-
gration of reproductive health into national strategies and 
programs’’; 
Whereas certain barrier methods of contraception, specifically 
condoms, decreases the spread of sexually transmitted in-
fections (STIs) and could eliminate the 3,500,000 annual 
cases of infertility in low- and middle-income countries 
that are caused by untreated gonorrhea or chlamydia; 
Whereas the ability of individuals to control the number and 
spacing of their children reduces rates of unintended 
pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths; 
Whereas, in economically developing countries, public health 
experts estimate that access to contraceptives would re-
sult in 76,000,000 fewer unintended pregnancies, 
26,000,000 fewer unsafe abortions, and 186,000 fewer 
maternal deaths; 
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•HCON 53 IH 
Whereas, in the United States, due to discrimination, signifi-
cant racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities exist in 
sexual and reproductive health, particularly in maternal 
mortality and morbidity and infant mortality with Black, 
American Indian, and Alaska Native women two to three 
times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes 
than White women; 
Whereas contraceptive choices are unduly influenced by struc-
tural racism, gender discrimination, and socioeconomic 
barriers; 
Whereas research shows that, both historically and today, 
medical racism and ableism has resulted in coercion and 
experimentations on Native peoples, communities of 
color, and immigrants, such as the forced surgical steri-
lization of American Indian and Alaska Native commu-
nities in the 1970s, misleading and eugenics-based birth 
control trials on Puerto Rican women in the 1950s, and 
the development of modern gynecology through the ex-
perimentation and exploitation of enslaved Black women 
beginning in the 1840s, and such coercion and experi-
mentations have contributed to persistent feelings of mis-
trust among many communities regarding their ability to 
access high-quality sexual and reproductive health care; 
Whereas effective contraception has been shown to be an im-
portant strategy to maintaining and improving mental 
health and well-being for women and other individuals 
who have the capacity to get pregnant; 
Whereas planning, delaying, and spacing births helps people 
achieve their education, career, and life goals; 
Whereas young women with access to the birth control pill 
before age 21 graduated from college in significantly 
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higher numbers than did women of the same era who 
came of age before the birth control pill was available to 
them; 
Whereas children born to women with access to United States 
federally funded family planning programs, which in-
crease access to affordable contraception and family plan-
ning services, were more likely to complete at least 12, 
13, and 16 years of schooling, and had 2-percent higher 
family incomes as adults; 
Whereas globally, access to contraception increases labor 
force participation, boosting economic health and pros-
perity of economically developing communities; 
Whereas many women face challenges in accessing birth con-
trol and using it effectively, and globally, 218,000,000 
women in economically developing countries have an 
unmet need for modern contraception; 
Whereas, in the United States, one-third of adult United 
States women who have ever tried to obtain prescription 
contraception reported barriers to access; 
Whereas one barrier to access is an appropriately trained, lin-
guistically appropriate, and culturally competent repro-
ductive health care workforce including primary care and 
other providers to ensure that all patients have access to 
a contraceptive method of their choice including highly 
effective reversible contraception methods; 
Whereas more than 19,000,000 women of reproductive age in 
the United States are in need of publicly funded contra-
ception and live in a contraceptive desert where they lack 
reasonable access in their county to a health center that 
offers the full range of contraceptive methods; 
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Whereas nearly half of all counties in the United States do 
not have a single practicing Obstetrician-Gynecologist, 
further limiting contraceptive access; 
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 the United States joined over 100 other countries 
that have over-the-counter (OTC) birth control pills when 
a progestin-only birth control pill was approved by the 
Food and Drug Administration in July 2024 and is now 
available nationwide without a prescription; 
Whereas research highlights that 39 percent of adults and 29 
percent of teens would be interested in an OTC pro-
gestin-only pill, with a greater likelihood of use if covered 
by insurance; 
Whereas the affordability of OTC contraception, including 
birth control pills and emergency contraception, is essen-
tial for equitable access; 
Whereas research shows that 64 percent of survey respond-
ents who were interested in continued use of OTC pro-
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gestin-only pills indicated that their interest in using an 
OTC oral contraceptive was related to cost-savings be-
cause they could save money not having to see a provider; 
Whereas variation in prices of emergency contraception 
across pharmacies, distributors, and manufactures can 
make it out of reach for those who need it most; 
Whereas, according to the UN, globally, 19 percent of gov-
ernments apply one or more restrictions on contraceptive 
access, including restrictions on the age and marital sta-
tus of the person seeking access to contraception, paren-
tal consent, and restrictions on access to emergency con-
traceptive 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-
creased media literacy, only 22 States and the District of 
Columbia require sex education to include information on 
birth control and just 36 States and the District of Co-
lumbia require sex education to be taught in schools at 
all; 
Whereas, globally, many countries have made advances in de-
veloping policies to improve access to comprehensive sex 
education, however, there remain significant gaps be-
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tween global and regional policies and implementation on 
the ground such as limited teacher training capacity; 
Whereas reproductive justice is the human right to maintain 
personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have chil-
dren, and parent one’s children in safe and sustainable 
communities; 
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 conflate emergency 
contraceptives and intrauterine devices with abortion, 
even though they are proven to reduce unintended preg-
nancies; 
Whereas people of color, Native people, immigrant commu-
nities, and people with disabilities have been exploited in 
the service of contraceptive development, and have been 
coerced 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-
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port for the Medicaid program, TRICARE, 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 Trump administration should take further 
steps to ensure that all people have universal, expan-
sive, high-quality access to free or affordable contra-
ception; 
(2) Congress and the Trump administration 
should ensure all people capable of pregnancy have 
the autonomy to decide whether to have children, the 
number and spacing of their children, and to have 
medically accurate information, education, and ac-
cess to health services to make these decisions and 
pursue reproductive justice; 
(3) Congress and the Trump administration 
should examine and support ways to expand com-
prehensive access to contraception, including study-
ing contraceptive deserts, new evidence-based meth-
ods and innovations, and whether Federal policy so-
lutions can address these issues; 
(4) Congress and the Trump administration 
should ensure people have access to affordable, com-
prehensive, consistent insurance coverage for all 
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their reproductive health care needs, including con-
traception without a prescription or cost sharing and 
abortion; 
(5) Congress and the Trump administration 
should expand training of counseling, provision, and 
follow-up care for all forms of highly effective revers-
ible contraception methods to primary care physi-
cians to increase access to the most effective forms 
of birth control available; 
(6) Congress aligns with the scientific perspec-
tive that ‘‘contraception’’ includes all current and fu-
ture Food and Drug Administration-approved, 
-granted, or-cleared methods, including those avail-
able by prescription and over-the-counter, and the 
World Health Organization defines contraception to 
include female and male sterilization, the intra-
uterine device, the implant, injectables, oral contra-
ceptive pills, external and internal condoms, vaginal 
barrier methods (including the diaphragm, cervical 
cap, and spermicidal foam, jelly, cream, and 
sponge), lactational amenorrhea method, emergency 
contraception, and other modern methods not re-
ported separately (for example, the contraceptive 
patch or vaginal ring); 
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(7) Congress and the Trump administration 
should ensure that laws governing contraception ac-
cess are evidence-based and grounded in accurate 
medical information; 
(8) Congress and the Trump administration 
should work to end reproductive health disparities, 
including with regard to ethnicity, race, disability, 
immigration status, gender identity, and sexual ori-
entation; 
(9) Congress and the Trump administration 
should work to end gender-based violence, which dis-
proportionately affects women, including transgender 
women; 
(10) Congress and the Trump administration 
should expand comprehensive and gender-inclusive 
sex education and patient-centered counseling, which 
includes accurate, age-appropriate information about 
one’s body, sexual and reproductive health, methods 
of contraception, access, and human rights; 
(11) Congress and the Trump administration 
should ensure that United States foreign assistance 
includes support for contraception services, safe 
abortion services, and quality postabortion care, and 
domestic assistance includes support for contracep-
tion services through title X family planning pro-
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viders and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Serv-
ices; 
(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, 
the Indian Health Service, 638 clinics, TRICARE, 
Federal health care providers, and the United States 
Agency for International Development’s Office of 
Population and Reproductive Health; and 
(13) Congress and the Trump administration 
should expand access and coverage for over-the- 
counter birth control and other forms of contracep-
tion without requiring a prescription. 
Æ 
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