I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2659 
To establish certain duties for pharmacies to ensure provision of Food and 
Drug Administration-approved contraception, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 26, 2011 
Mrs. MALONEY (for herself, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. NORTON, Ms. 
LEE of California, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. MOORE, Ms. HIRONO, and Mr. INS-
LEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To establish certain duties for pharmacies to ensure provision 
of Food and Drug Administration-approved contracep-
tion, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Birth Control 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Family planning is basic health care for 
women. Access to contraception helps women pre-
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vent unintended pregnancy and control the timing 
and spacing of planned births. 
(2) Although the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention included family planning in its pub-
lished list of the Ten Great Public Health Achieve-
ments in the 20th Century, the United States still 
has one of the highest rates of unintended preg-
nancies among industrialized nations. 
(3) Each year, 3,000,000 pregnancies, nearly 
half of all pregnancies, in the United States are un-
intended, and nearly half of unintended pregnancies 
end in abortion. 
(4) Women rely on prescription contraceptives 
for a range of medical purposes in addition to birth 
control, such as regulation of cycles and endo-
metriosis. 
(5) The Food and Drug Administration has de-
clared emergency contraception to be safe and effec-
tive in preventing unintended pregnancy and has ap-
proved over-the-counter access to some forms of 
emergency contraception for individuals aged 17 and 
older. 
(6) If taken soon after unprotected sex or pri-
mary contraceptive failure, emergency contraception 
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can significantly reduce a woman’s chance of unin-
tended pregnancy. 
(7) Emergency contraception is approved to 
prevent pregnancy. It will not work if a woman is al-
ready pregnant. 
(8) Access to legal contraception is a protected 
fundamental right in the United States and should 
not be impeded by one individual’s personal beliefs. 
(9) Reports of pharmacists refusing to fill pre-
scriptions for contraceptives, including emergency 
contraceptives, have surfaced in States across the 
Nation, including Alabama, Arizona, California, the 
District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, 
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mon-
tana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, 
Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, 
Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. 
Since emergency contraception became available 
without a prescription for certain individuals, refus-
als to provide non-prescription emergency contracep-
tion have also been reported. 
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SEC. 3. DUTIES OF PHARMACIES TO ENSURE PROVISION OF 
FDA-APPROVED CONTRACEPTION. 
Part B of title II of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 238 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 249. DUTIES OF PHARMACIES TO ENSURE PROVISION 
OF FDA-APPROVED CONTRACEPTION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), a 
pharmacy that receives Food and Drug Administration- 
approved drugs or devices in interstate commerce shall 
maintain compliance with the following: 
‘‘(1) If a customer requests a contraceptive that 
is in stock, the pharmacy shall ensure that the con-
traceptive is provided to the customer without delay. 
‘‘(2) If a customer requests a contraceptive that 
is not in stock and the pharmacy in the normal 
course of business stocks contraception, the phar-
macy shall immediately inform the customer that the 
contraceptive is not in stock and without delay offer 
the customer the following options: 
‘‘(A) If the customer prefers to obtain the 
contraceptive through a referral or transfer, the 
pharmacy shall— 
‘‘(i) locate a pharmacy of the cus-
tomer’s choice or the closest pharmacy 
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confirmed to have the contraceptive in 
stock; and 
‘‘(ii) refer the customer or transfer 
the prescription to that pharmacy. 
‘‘(B) If the customer prefers for the phar-
macy to order the contraceptive, the pharmacy 
shall obtain the contraceptive under the phar-
macy’s standard procedure for expedited order-
ing of medication and notify the customer when 
the contraceptive arrives. 
‘‘(3) The pharmacy shall ensure that its em-
ployees do not— 
‘‘(A) intimidate, threaten, or harass cus-
tomers in the delivery of services relating to a 
request for contraception; 
‘‘(B) interfere with or obstruct the delivery 
of services relating to a request for contracep-
tion; 
‘‘(C) intentionally misrepresent or deceive 
customers about the availability of contracep-
tion or its mechanism of action; 
‘‘(D) breach medical confidentiality with 
respect to a request for contraception or threat-
en to breach such confidentiality; or 
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‘‘(E) refuse to return a valid, lawful pre-
scription for contraception upon customer re-
quest. 
‘‘(b) 
CONTRACEPTIVES
NOT
ORDINARILY 
STOCKED.—Nothing in subsection (a)(2) shall be con-
strued to require any pharmacy to comply with such sub-
section if the pharmacy does not ordinarily stock contra-
ceptives in the normal course of business. 
‘‘(c) REFUSALS PURSUANT
TO STANDARD PHAR-
MACY PRACTICE.—This section does not prohibit a phar-
macy from refusing to provide a contraceptive to a cus-
tomer in accordance with any of the following: 
‘‘(1) If it is unlawful to dispense the contracep-
tive to the customer without a valid, lawful prescrip-
tion and no such prescription is presented. 
‘‘(2) If the customer is unable to pay for the 
contraceptive. 
‘‘(3) If the employee of the pharmacy refuses to 
provide the contraceptive on the basis of a profes-
sional clinical judgment. 
‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to invalidate or limit rights, rem-
edies, procedures, or legal standards under title VII of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964. 
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‘‘(e) PREEMPTION.—This section does not preempt 
any provision of State law or any professional obligation 
made applicable by a State board or other entity respon-
sible for licensing or discipline of pharmacies or phar-
macists, to the extent that such State law or professional 
obligation provides protections for customers that are 
greater than the protections provided by this section. 
‘‘(f) ENFORCEMENT.— 
‘‘(1) CIVIL PENALTY.—A pharmacy that vio-
lates a requirement of subsection (a) is liable to the 
United States for a civil penalty in an amount not 
exceeding $1,000 per day of violation, not to exceed 
$100,000 for all violations adjudicated in a single 
proceeding. 
‘‘(2) PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION.—Any person 
aggrieved as a result of a violation of a requirement 
of subsection (a) may, in any court of competent ju-
risdiction, commence a civil action against the phar-
macy involved to obtain appropriate relief, including 
actual and punitive damages, injunctive relief, and a 
reasonable attorney’s fee and cost. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—A civil action under para-
graph (1) or (2) may not be commenced against a 
pharmacy after the expiration of the 5-year period 
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beginning on the date on which the pharmacy alleg-
edly engaged in the violation involved. 
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘contraception’ or ‘contraceptive’ 
means any drug or device approved by the Food and 
Drug Administration to prevent pregnancy. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘employee’ means a person hired, 
by contract or any other form of an agreement, by 
a pharmacy. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘pharmacy’ means an entity 
that— 
‘‘(A) is authorized by a State to engage in 
the business of selling prescription drugs at re-
tail; and 
‘‘(B) employs one or more employees. 
‘‘(4) The term ‘product’ means a Food and 
Drug Administration-approved drug or device. 
‘‘(5) The term ‘professional clinical judgment’ 
means the use of professional knowledge and skills 
to form a clinical judgment, in accordance with pre-
vailing medical standards. 
‘‘(6) The term ‘without delay’, with respect to 
a pharmacy providing, providing a referral for, or 
ordering contraception, or transferring the prescrip-
tion for contraception, means within the usual and 
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customary timeframe at the pharmacy for providing, 
providing a referral for, or ordering other products, 
or transferring the prescription for other products, 
respectively. 
‘‘(h) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take ef-
fect on the 31st day after the date of the enactment of 
this section, without regard to whether the Secretary has 
issued any guidance or final rule regarding this section.’’. 
Æ 
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