II 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8373 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 21, 2022 
Received 
AN ACT 
To protect a person’s ability to access contraceptives and 
to engage in contraception, and to protect a health care 
provider’s ability to provide contraceptives, contraception, 
and information related to contraception. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Right to Contraception 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) CONTRACEPTION.—The term ‘‘contracep-
tion’’ means an action taken to prevent pregnancy, 
including the use of contraceptives or fertility-aware-
ness based methods, and sterilization procedures. 
(2) CONTRACEPTIVE.—The term ‘‘contracep-
tive’’ means any drug, device, or biological product 
intended for use in the prevention of pregnancy, 
whether specifically intended to prevent pregnancy 
or for other health needs, that is legally marketed 
under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 
such as oral contraceptives, long-acting reversible 
contraceptives, emergency contraceptives, internal 
and external condoms, injectables, vaginal barrier 
methods, transdermal patches, and vaginal rings, or 
other contraceptives. 
(3) GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘government’’ 
includes each branch, department, agency, instru-
mentality, and official of the United States or a 
State. 
(4) HEALTH
CARE
PROVIDER.—The term 
‘‘health care provider’’ means, with respect to a 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
State, any entity or individual (including any physi-
cian, certified nurse-midwife, nurse, nurse practi-
tioner, physician assistant, and pharmacist) that is 
licensed or otherwise authorized by the State to pro-
vide health care services. 
(5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of 
the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory and 
possession of the United States, and any subdivision 
of any of the foregoing, including any unit of local 
government, such as a county, city, town, village, or 
other general purpose political subdivision of a 
State. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The right to contraception is a fundamental 
right, central to a person’s privacy, health, 
wellbeing, dignity, liberty, equality, and ability to 
participate in the social and economic life of the Na-
tion. 
(2) The Supreme Court has repeatedly recog-
nized the constitutional right to contraception. 
(3) In Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479 
(1965)), the Supreme Court first recognized the con-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
stitutional right for married people to use contracep-
tives. 
(4) In Eisenstadt v. Baird (405 U.S. 438 
(1972)), the Supreme Court confirmed the constitu-
tional right of all people to legally access contracep-
tives regardless of marital status. 
(5) In Carey v. Population Services Inter-
national (431 U.S. 678 (1977)), the Supreme Court 
affirmed the constitutional right to contraceptives 
for minors. 
(6) The right to contraception has been repeat-
edly recognized internationally as a human right. 
The United Nations Population Fund has published 
several reports outlining family planning as a basic 
human right that advances women’s health, eco-
nomic empowerment, and equality. 
(7) Access to contraceptives is internationally 
recognized by the World Health Organization as ad-
vancing other human rights such as the right to life, 
liberty, expression, health, work, and education. 
(8) Contraception is safe, essential health care, 
and access to contraceptive products and services is 
central to people’s ability to participate equally in 
economic and social life in the United States and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
globally. Contraception allows people to make deci-
sions about their families and their lives. 
(9) Contraception is key to sexual and repro-
ductive health. Contraception is critical to pre-
venting unintended pregnancy and many contracep-
tives are highly effective in preventing and treating 
a wide array of often severe medical conditions and 
decrease the risk of certain cancers. 
(10) Family planning improves health outcomes 
for women, their families, and their communities 
and reduces rates of maternal and infant mortality 
and morbidity. 
(11) The United States has a long history of 
reproductive coercion, including the childbearing 
forced upon enslaved women, as well as the forced 
sterilization of Black women, Puerto Rican women, 
indigenous women, immigrant women, and disabled 
women, and reproductive coercion continues to 
occur. 
(12) The right to make personal decisions about 
contraceptive use is important for all Americans, 
and is especially critical for historically marginalized 
groups, including Black, indigenous, and other peo-
ple of color; immigrants; LGBTQ people; people with 
disabilities; people with low incomes; and people liv-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
ing in rural and underserved areas. Many people 
who are part of these marginalized groups already 
face barriers—exacerbated by social, political, eco-
nomic, and environmental inequities—to comprehen-
sive health care, including reproductive health care, 
that reduce their ability to make decisions about 
their health, families, and lives. 
(13) State and Federal policies governing phar-
maceutical and insurance policies affect the accessi-
bility of contraceptives, and the settings in which 
contraception services are delivered. 
(14) People engage in interstate commerce to 
access contraception services. 
(15) To provide contraception services, health 
care providers employ and obtain commercial serv-
ices from doctors, nurses, and other personnel who 
engage in interstate commerce and travel across 
State lines. 
(16) Congress has the authority to enact this 
Act to protect access to contraception pursuant to— 
(A) its powers under the Commerce Clause 
of section 8 of article I of the Constitution of 
the United States; 
(B) its powers under section 5 of the Four-
teenth Amendment to the Constitution of the 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
United States to enforce the provisions of sec-
tion 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment; and 
(C) its powers under the necessary and 
proper clause of section 8 of article I of the 
Constitution of the United States. 
(17) Congress has used its authority in the past 
to protect and expand access to contraception infor-
mation, products, and services. 
(18) In 1970, Congress established the family 
planning program under title X of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300 et seq.), the only Fed-
eral grant program dedicated to family planning and 
related services, providing access to information, 
products, and services for contraception. 
(19) In 1972, Congress required the Medicaid 
program to cover family planning services and sup-
plies, and the Medicaid program currently accounts 
for 75 percent of Federal funds spent on family 
planning. 
(20) In 2010, Congress enacted the Patient 
Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 
111–148) (referred to in this section as the ‘‘ACA’’). 
Among other provisions, the ACA included provi-
sions to expand the affordability and accessibility of 
contraception by requiring health insurance plans to 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
provide coverage for preventive services with no pa-
tient cost-sharing. 
(21) Despite the clearly established constitu-
tional right to contraception, access to contracep-
tives, including emergency contraceptives and long- 
acting reversible contraceptives, has been obstructed 
across the United States in various ways by Federal 
and State governments. 
(22) As of 2022, at least 4 States tried to ban 
access to some or all contraceptives by restricting 
access to public funding for these products and serv-
ices. Furthermore, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, 
and Texas have infringed on people’s ability to ac-
cess their contraceptive care by violating the free 
choice of provider requirement under the Medicaid 
program. 
(23) Providers’ refusals to offer contraceptives 
and information related to contraception based on 
their own personal beliefs impede patients from ob-
taining their preferred method, with laws in 12 
States as of the date of introduction of this Act spe-
cifically allowing health care providers to refuse to 
provide services related to contraception. 
(24) States have attempted to define abortion 
expansively so as to include contraceptives in State 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
bans on abortion and have also restricted access to 
emergency contraception. 
(25) In June 2022, Justice Thomas, in his con-
curring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s 
Health Organization (597 U.S. ll (2022)), stated 
that the Supreme Court ‘‘should reconsider all of 
this Court’s substantive due process precedents, in-
cluding Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell’’ and 
that the Court has ‘‘a duty to correct the error es-
tablished in those precedents’’ by overruling them. 
(26) In order to further public health and to 
combat efforts to restrict access to reproductive 
health care, congressional action is necessary to pro-
tect access to contraceptives, contraception, and in-
formation related to contraception for everyone, re-
gardless of actual or perceived race, ethnicity, sex 
(including gender identity and sexual orientation), 
income, disability, national origin, immigration sta-
tus, or geography. 
SEC. 4. PERMITTED SERVICES. 
(a) GENERAL RULE.—A person has a statutory right 
under this Act to obtain contraceptives and to engage in 
contraception, and a health care provider has a cor-
responding right to provide contraceptives, contraception, 
and information related to contraception. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
(b) LIMITATIONS OR REQUIREMENTS.—The statu-
tory rights specified in subsection (a) shall not be limited 
or otherwise infringed through any limitation or require-
ment that— 
(1) expressly, effectively, implicitly, or as imple-
mented singles out the provision of contraceptives, 
contraception, or contraception-related information; 
health care providers who provide contraceptives, 
contraception, or contraception-related information; 
or facilities in which contraceptives, contraception, 
or contraception-related information is provided; and 
(2) impedes access to contraceptives, contracep-
tion, or contraception-related information. 
(c) EXCEPTION.—To defend against a claim that a 
limitation or requirement violates a health care provider’s 
or patient’s statutory rights under subsection (b), a party 
must establish, by clear and convincing evidence, that— 
(1) the limitation or requirement significantly 
advances access to contraceptives, contraception, and 
information related to contraception; and 
(2) access to contraceptives, contraception, and 
information related to contraception or the health of 
patients cannot be advanced by a less restrictive al-
ternative measure or action. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY AND PREEMPTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) GENERAL APPLICATION.—Except as stated 
under subsection (b), this Act supersedes and ap-
plies to the law of the Federal Government and each 
State government, and the implementation of such 
law, whether statutory, common law, or otherwise, 
and whether adopted before or after the date of en-
actment of this Act, and neither the Federal Govern-
ment nor any State government shall administer, 
implement, or enforce any law, rule, regulation, 
standard, or other provision having the force and ef-
fect of law that conflicts with any provision of this 
Act, notwithstanding any other provision of Federal 
law, including the Religious Freedom Restoration 
Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.). 
(2) SUBSEQUENTLY ENACTED FEDERAL LEGIS-
LATION.—Federal statutory law adopted after the 
date of the enactment of this Act is subject to this 
Act unless such law explicitly excludes such applica-
tion by reference to this Act. 
(b) LIMITATIONS.—The provisions of this Act shall 
not supersede or otherwise affect any provision of Federal 
law relating to coverage under (and shall not be construed 
as requiring the provision of specific benefits under) group 
health plans or group or individual health insurance cov-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
erage or coverage under a Federal health care program 
(as defined in section 1128B(f) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1320a–7b(f))), including coverage provided 
under section 1905(a)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1396d(a)(4)(C)) and section 2713 of Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–13). 
(c) DEFENSE.—In any cause of action against an in-
dividual or entity who is subject to a limitation or require-
ment that violates this Act, in addition to the remedies 
specified in section 7, this Act shall also apply to, and 
may be raised as a defense by, such an individual or entity. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect 
immediately upon the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 6. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In interpreting the provisions of 
this Act, a court shall liberally construe such provisions 
to effectuate the purposes of the Act. 
(b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 
shall be construed— 
(1) to authorize any government to interfere 
with a health care provider’s ability to provide con-
traceptives or information related to contraception 
or a patient’s ability to obtain contraceptives or to 
engage in contraception; or 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
HR 8373 RDS
(2) to permit or sanction the conduct of any 
sterilization procedure without the patient’s vol-
untary and informed consent. 
(c) OTHER INDIVIDUALS CONSIDERED AS GOVERN-
MENT OFFICIALS.—Any person who, by operation of a 
provision of Federal or State law, is permitted to imple-
ment or enforce a limitation or requirement that violates 
section 4 shall be considered a government official for pur-
poses of this Act. 
SEC. 7. ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 
may commence a civil action on behalf of the United 
States against any State that violates, or against any gov-
ernment official (including a person described in section 
6(c)) that implements or enforces a limitation or require-
ment that violates, section 4. The court shall hold unlawful 
and set aside the limitation or requirement if it is in viola-
tion of this Act. 
(b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any individual or entity, in-
cluding any health care provider or patient, ad-
versely affected by an alleged violation of this Act, 
may commence a civil action against any State that 
violates, or against any government official (includ-
ing a person described in section 6(c)) that imple-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
06:54 Jan 04, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H8373.RDS
H8373
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS