IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 68 
Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 2023, 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, 2023 
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. TORRES of New 
York, Mr. NADLER, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 
STEVENS, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. CHU, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. CLARKE of 
New York, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. MENG, Ms. MCCLELLAN, and Mr. JOHN-
SON of Georgia) 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 deter-
mined 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, 
2023, 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 
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•HCON 68 IH 
basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the 
number and spacing of their children’’; 
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 
(CDC) recognized family planning in its published list of 
the ‘‘Ten Greatest Public Health Achievements in the 
20th Century’’; 
Whereas target 3.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals (SDGs), 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 sexual and reproductive health-care services, in-
cluding for family planning, information and education, 
and the integration 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, 
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•HCON 68 IH 
26,000,000 fewer unsafe abortions, and 186,000 fewer 
maternal deaths; 
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 has resulted in experiments on commu-
nities of color, such as the misleading and eugenics-based 
birth control trials on Puerto Rican women in the 1950s 
and the development of modern gynecology through the 
experimentation and exploitation of enslaved Black 
women beginning in the 1840s, has contributed to per-
sistent feelings of mistrust among Black women regard-
ing their ability to access high-quality sexual and repro-
ductive 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 pill before age 21 
graduated from college in significantly higher numbers 
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than did women of the same era who came of age before 
the 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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