•HCON 39 IH 
viduals, and other marginalized individuals are dispropor-
tionately likely to be surveilled, arrested, charged, pros-
ecuted, convicted, and heavily punished within the crimi-
nal justice system; 
Whereas Indigenous people, Afro-descendant people, people of 
color, people with low incomes, people living in rural 
areas, people with disabilities, migrants, LGBTQ+ indi-
viduals, and other marginalized individuals are more like-
ly, due to persistent disparities, to experience adverse 
pregnancy outcomes that place them under the scrutiny 
of the legal system; 
Whereas limiting access to sexual and reproductive health 
and rights, including access to abortion, also limits path-
ways to economic, social, and political empowerment; 
Whereas sexual and reproductive health and rights are intrin-
sically linked to gender justice and improved health out-
comes for women and their children; 
Whereas abortion is recognized as essential public health care 
as determined by the World Health Organization (WHO); 
Whereas self-managed abortion is a safe and scientifically 
documented health service that can be performed without 
the participation of medical professionals to increase ac-
cess in the most remote locations; 
Whereas the most recent WHO abortion guidelines rec-
ommend the full decriminalization of abortion, the re-
moval of grounds-based restrictions on abortion, and ges-
tational age limits on abortion provision, and include self- 
managed abortion among the WHO-recommended meth-
ods and models of care; 
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•HCON 39 IH 
Whereas reproductive coercion, which is any behavior that 
interferes with autonomous decision making about repro-
ductive health outcomes, is a violation of human rights; 
Whereas the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization 
decision has decimated abortion access in the United 
States, and cases like Beatriz’s are being seen across 
many of the States that have banned or severely re-
stricted abortion access, including a recent lawsuit 
brought by 5 women and 2 obstetricians and gyne-
cologists against the State of Texas after the women were 
denied abortion care even though they were facing severe 
and dangerous pregnancy complications and even though 
the women’s conditions should have qualified under the 
State’s abortion ban exceptions, and as a result of the de-
nials, their conditions worsened, posing great risks to 
their fertility, health, and lives; 
Whereas the United States Department of State included in 
its 2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 
El Salvador reports of discrimination, wrongful incarcer-
ation, abuse, and mistreatment of women who suffered 
pregnancy complications and miscarriages, and acknowl-
edged the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ 2021 
ruling in Manuela v. El Salvador that the government 
violated the right to personal freedom, life, health, and 
justice in the case of Manuela, a woman sentenced to 30 
years in prison after suffering a pregnancy loss; and 
Whereas punishing people for their pregnancy outcomes or 
for providing essential reproductive and sexual health 
care violates their human rights: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
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•HCON 39 IH 
(1) condemns the absolute criminalization of 
abortion in El Salvador and anywhere in the world; 
(2) affirms that all people deserve access to 
high-quality health care without fear of reprisal or 
punishment; 
(3) calls upon the Inter-American Court of 
Human Rights to recognize that total criminaliza-
tion of abortion violates the rights to life, health (in-
cluding mental health), freedom from torture, and 
information; and 
(4) urges States that still have a total ban on 
abortion to decriminalize abortion and protect and 
guarantee human rights. 
Æ 
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