I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3163 
To ensure timely access to affordable birth control for women. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 22, 2015 
Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. 
RANGEL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. CLARK of Massa-
chusetts, Mr. BERA, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. 
POCAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. 
RYAN of Ohio, Mr. NADLER, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, 
Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DEUTCH, Ms. SLAUGHTER, 
Mr. LEWIS, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BEYER, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. 
DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. 
JACKSON LEE, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. GRAYSON, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. KUSTER, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. WELCH, Ms. HAHN, Ms. WILSON of 
Florida, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. HONDA, Mr. COHEN, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. 
MOULTON, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. TITUS, Mr. PETERS, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. 
VAN HOLLEN, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. CONYERS, Mr. SEAN
PATRICK
MALONEY
of New York, Mr. 
DESAULNIER, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. TONKO, Ms. MOORE, Mrs. LAW-
RENCE, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. 
MCCOLLUM, Mrs. BUSTOS, Ms. LEE, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Ms. 
MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. JUDY 
CHU of California, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. LOEBSACK, and Ms. ROYBAL- 
ALLARD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To ensure timely access to affordable birth control for 
women. 
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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 ‘‘Affordability Is Access 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to ensure timely access 
to affordable birth control by requiring coverage without 
cost-sharing for oral birth control for routine, daily use 
that is approved by, or otherwise legally marketed under 
regulation by, the Food and Drug Administration for use 
by women without a prescription. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Access to the full range of health benefits 
and preventive services, including access to birth 
control, as guaranteed under Federal law, provides 
all people of the United States with the opportunity 
to lead healthier and more productive lives. 
(2) Birth control is a critical health care benefit 
and service for women. Almost all women use birth 
control at some point in their lifetimes. The Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention declared it one 
of the Ten Great Public Health Achievements of the 
20th Century. 
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(3) Birth control prevents and reduces unin-
tended pregnancies and provides many health and 
socioeconomic benefits for women. Women with ac-
cess to birth control are more likely to have higher 
educational and career achievement, and to earn 
higher wages. 
(4) Affordability and timely access have long 
been barriers for women being able to use birth con-
trol. Many women struggle to obtain the birth con-
trol they need because of cost or other access bar-
riers, which has contributed to the high unintended 
pregnancy rate in the United States. A national sur-
vey found that 1 in 3 women have struggled to af-
ford birth control at some point in their lives, and 
as a result, have used birth control inconsistently. 
The rate is even higher for young women who are 
most likely to experience an unintended pregnancy. 
(5) Three separate studies have found that lack 
of health coverage is significantly associated with re-
duced use of prescription contraceptive methods, in-
cluding birth control. 
(6) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act (Public Law 111–148) sought to remove bar-
riers to care and improve access by requiring all new 
health plans to cover recommended preventive serv-
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ices without cost-sharing, which include women’s 
preventive services, including all contraceptive meth-
ods, including birth control and sterilization for 
women approved by the Food and Drug Administra-
tion and related education and counseling. 
(7) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act women’s preventive services benefit has signifi-
cantly improved women’s access to birth control, in-
cluding oral birth control for routine, daily use. The 
Department of Health and Human Services has re-
ported that, as of 2014, more than 55,000,000 
women are benefitting from coverage without cost- 
sharing for women’s preventive services, including 
birth control, under the Patient Protection and Af-
fordable Care Act. Women have saved more than 
$483,000,000 in out-of-pocket costs for birth control 
with no copayments in 2012 compared to 2013, an 
average savings of $269 per woman. 
(8) The most appropriate method of birth con-
trol varies according to each individual woman’s 
needs, medical history, and stage of life. For in-
stance, women may have medical contraindications 
that limit their ability to use certain birth control 
methods. It is critical that the full range of birth 
control methods approved by the Food and Drug 
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Administration are available and covered without 
cost-sharing in order to ensure that each woman has 
access to the birth control method that best meets 
her needs. 
(9) The determination as to whether a drug 
should be available for use without a prescription is 
appropriately and solely made by the Food and Drug 
Administration. To ensure the safety and efficacy of 
a drug, including a drug available for over-the- 
counter use, the appropriate scientific and medical 
personnel at the Food and Drug Administration, 
often with input from independent advisory panels of 
experts, review clinical and other data relating to the 
safety and efficacy of the drug. This scientific and 
medical review can occur as part of the Food and 
Drug Administration’s over-the-counter drug review 
for potential inclusion in a monograph as generally 
recognized as safe and effective, or as part of the re-
view of a new drug application (or an abbreviated 
new drug application). As part of these regulatory 
processes, the appropriate scientific and medical per-
sonnel review clinical and other data, including data 
generated in controlled clinical trials. The Food and 
Drug Administration also reviews consumer studies 
and monitors post-marketing safety data. All of 
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these processes ensure that the appropriate scientific 
and medical personnel make the determination of 
safety, quality, and efficacy of drugs marketed to 
the people of the United States. 
(10) Leading women’s health experts, providers, 
and medical associations, including the American 
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the 
American Academy of Family Physicians, support 
full insurance coverage and increased access to oral 
birth control over-the-counter. In 2012, the Amer-
ican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 
issued a Committee Opinion recommending approval 
by the Food and Drug Administration of certain 
forms of birth control for over-the-counter use to in-
crease timely access to birth control. Furthermore, 
data demonstrates that birth control that is available 
over-the-counter has public support and would in-
crease birth control usage and continuation. The 
Committee Opinion followed similar recommenda-
tions made by leading reproductive health experts 
and published in the American Journal of Public 
Health. 
(11) Research shows that birth control available 
over-the-counter, as an addition to, not a substitute 
for, the women’s preventive health benefit under the 
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