IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 685 
Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 2021, 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 27, 2021 
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. 
TORRES of New York, Ms. CHU, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. 
OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mrs. CAROLYN
B. MALONEY
of New York, Ms. 
DELBENE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. MENG, 
Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. BASS, and Mr. 
CICILLINE) submitted the following 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 determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for the recognition of September 26, 
2021, 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; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:42 Sep 28, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR685.IH
HR685
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
•HRES 685 IH 
Whereas, in 1968, the United Nations International Con-
ference on Human Rights declared that ‘‘parents have a 
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 contraception, specifically condoms, decreases the 
spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and 
could eliminate the 3.5 million 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 unwanted preg-
nancy; 
Whereas in developing countries, public health experts esti-
mate that access to contraceptives would result in 76 mil-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:42 Sep 28, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR685.IH
HR685
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
•HRES 685 IH 
lion fewer unintended pregnancies, 26 million fewer un-
safe abortions, and 186,000 fewer maternal deaths; 
Whereas significant racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic dispari-
ties exist in sexual and reproductive health, particularly 
in maternal mortality 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, and research shows that both historically and 
today, medical racism has resulted in experiments on, ex-
ploitation of, and mistrust of Black women’s sexual and 
reproductive health; 
Whereas effective contraception has been shown to be an im-
portant strategy to maintaining and improving mental 
health and well-being for women, particularly in relation 
to postpartum depression from unplanned pregnancies; 
Whereas planning, delaying, and spacing births helps people 
achieve their education and career goals; 
Whereas young women with access to the pill before age 21 
graduated from college in significantly higher numbers 
than did women of the same era who came of age before 
the pill was available to them; 
Whereas children born to mothers with access to United 
States federally funded family planning programs, which 
increase access to affordable contraception and family 
planning services, were more likely to complete at least 
12, 13, and 16 years of schooling, and had two-percent 
higher family incomes as adults; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:42 Sep 28, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR685.IH
HR685
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
•HRES 685 IH 
Whereas globally, access to contraception increases labor 
force participation boosting economic health and pros-
perity of developing communities; 
Whereas many women face challenges in accessing birth con-
trol and using it effectively, and globally, 270 million 
women (14 percent) have an unmet need for family plan-
ning using 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 12 States in America allow some health care pro-
viders to refuse to provide services related to contracep-
tion; 
Whereas studies show that preventing teenagers from access-
ing contraceptives puts teens at risk of unintended preg-
nancies and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV; 
Whereas 9 States in America have adopted restrictions on 
emergency contraception by excluding emergency contra-
ception from a State’s family planning program, contra-
ceptive coverage mandate, or by allowing pharmacists to 
refuse to dispense emergency contraceptives; 
Whereas according to the UN, globally, 19 percent of govern-
ments apply one or more restrictions on contraceptive ac-
cess, and these include restrictions on the age and mar-
ital status of the person seeking access to contraception, 
parental consent, and restrictions on access to emergency 
contraceptive pills or sterilization; 
Whereas researchers propose some women of color experience 
implicit and explicit racism when interacting with the 
medical system, lack of quality information about effec-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:42 Sep 28, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR685.IH
HR685
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
•HRES 685 IH 
tive family planning methods, and an inability to access 
or afford reproductive health care; 
Whereas while comprehensive sex education has been proven 
to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and STIs, only 
20 States and the District of Columbia require sex edu-
cation to include information on birth control; 
Whereas globally, many countries have made advances in de-
veloping policies to improve access to comprehensive sex 
education, however, there remain significant gaps be-
tween global and regional policies and implementation on 
the ground such as limited teacher training capacity; 
Whereas existing research highlights uninsured women were 
30 percent less likely to report using prescription contra-
ceptive methods than women with private or public health 
insurance and women identify affordability among the 
top three factors in determining which contraception to 
use; 
Whereas LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly transgender indi-
viduals undergoing transition, experience unique barriers 
to contraception access; 
Whereas there are continued efforts to defund or eliminate 
contraceptive programs, even though they are proven to 
reduce unintended pregnancies; 
Whereas reproductive justice is the human right to maintain 
personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have chil-
dren, and parent the children we have in safe and sus-
tainable communities; 
Whereas people of color, indigenous people, immigrant com-
munities, and people with disabilities have been exploited 
in the service of contraceptive development, and been co-
erced into using contraception, or sterilized against their 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:42 Sep 28, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR685.IH
HR685
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
•HRES 685 IH 
will, yet still may face barriers to accessing contraception 
when they need it; and 
Whereas Congress has repeatedly recognized the importance 
of women’s ability to access contraceptives through sup-
port for the Medicaid program, title X of the Public 
Health Service Act, and the Federal Employee Health 
Benefits Program: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That— 
(1) it is the sense of the House of Representa-
tives that Congress and this Administration should 
take further steps to ensure that all people have uni-
versal, expansive, high-quality access to free or af-
fordable contraception; 
(2) the House of Representatives and the Ad-
ministration should ensure all people capable of 
pregnancy autonomy to decide whether to have chil-
dren, the number and spacing of their children, and 
to have medically accurate information, education, 
and access to health services to make these decisions 
and pursue reproductive justice; 
(3) the House of Representatives and the Ad-
ministration should examine and support ways to ex-
pand comprehensive access to contraception, includ-
ing new evidence-based methods and innovations; 
(4) the House of Representatives and the Ad-
ministration should ensure people have access to af-
fordable, comprehensive, consistent insurance cov-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:42 Sep 28, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR685.IH
HR685
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
•HRES 685 IH 
erage for all their reproductive health care needs, in-
cluding contraception and abortion; 
(5) the House of Representatives aligns with 
scientific perspective that ‘‘contraception’’ includes 
all current and future Food and Drug Administra-
tion-approved methods, including those available by 
prescription and over-the-counter, and the World 
Health Organization defines contraception to include 
female and male sterilization, the intra-uterine de-
vice (IUD), the implant, injectables, oral contracep-
tive pills, external and internal condoms, vaginal 
barrier methods (including the diaphragm, cervical 
cap and spermicidal foam, jelly, cream, and sponge), 
lactational amenorrhea method (LAM), emergency 
contraception and other modern methods not re-
ported separately (for example, the contraceptive 
patch or vaginal ring); 
(6) the House of Representatives and the Ad-
ministration should ensure that laws governing con-
traception access are evidence-based and grounded 
in accurate medical information; 
(7) the House of Representatives and the Ad-
ministration should work to end reproductive health 
disparities, including with regard to ethnicity, race, 
gender identity, and sexual orientation; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:42 Sep 28, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR685.IH
HR685
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
•HRES 685 IH 
(8) the House of Representatives and the Ad-
ministration should work to end gender-based vio-
lence, which disproportionately affects women, in-
cluding transgender women; 
(9) the House of Representatives and the Ad-
ministration should expand comprehensive and gen-
der inclusive sex education and patient-centered 
counseling, which includes accurate, age-appropriate 
information about one’s body, sexual and reproduc-
tive health, methods of contraception and access, 
and human rights; 
(10) the House of Representatives and the Ad-
ministration should ensure that United States for-
eign assistance includes support for contraception 
services, safe abortion services, and quality post- 
abortion care; and 
(11) this Congress does not support the global 
gag rule and Helms amendments and supports in-
creased funding for domestic and foreign assistance 
contraceptive programs such as those under title X, 
Medicaid, Federal health care providers, and the 
United States Agency for International Develop-
ment’s Office of Population and Reproductive 
Health. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:42 Sep 28, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR685.IH
HR685
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS