Wyden, Merkley, colleagues introduce bill to codify right to contraception

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., with colleagues have introduced legislation that would codify the right to contraception, which the Supreme Court first recognized more than half a century ago in its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut.

The introduction follows Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion last month in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — overturning Roe v. Wade — in which he urged the Court to reconsider its 1965 Griswold decision. Several states have already restricted access to contraception by cutting off public funding for it, defining abortion broadly enough to include contraception, and allowing health care providers to refuse to provide services related to contraception based on their own personal beliefs.

“Justice Thomas made his views and the views of the extremist Republican party painfully clear: the Dobbs decision is not just about overturning the right to a safe and legal abortion. Conservatives will not rest until they have complete control over women’s bodies, including access to birth control. It’s enough to leave you wondering, what century is this?” Wyden said. “For many Americans, birth control is a part of a basic health regimen. The Right to Contraception Act will ensure that the government stays out of the exam room and the bedroom because all Americans should have an equal right to chart the course of their own lives, including if and when to be pregnant.”

“In the year 2022, it’s outrageous that we’re even debating whether Americans should have access to contraception—but that’s where this extremist MAGA Supreme Court has left us,”Merkley said. “Access to contraception and other family planning and reproductive health care resources are vital in ensuring all Americans are able to control their own lives and health care decisions. Let’s keep the government out of our bedrooms and ensure that the right to contraception remains ironclad in America.”

The Right to Contraception Act would uphold access to contraception by:

·         Creating a statutory right for individuals to obtain contraceptives and to engage in contraception;

·         Establishing a corresponding right for health care providers to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception;

·          Allowing the Department of Justice, as well as providers and individuals harmed by restrictions on contraception access made unlawful under the legislation, to go to court to enforce these rights; and

·          Protecting a range of contraceptive methods, devices, and medications used to prevent pregnancy, including but not limited to oral contraceptives, long-acting reversible contraceptives, emergency contraceptives, internal and external condoms, injectables, vaginal barrier methods, transdermal patches, vaginal rings, fertility-awareness based methods, and sterilization procedures.

A copy of the legislation is HERE.

Senators Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. introduced the legislation. Along with Wyden and Merkley, the bill is co-sponsored by Senators Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Tom Carper, D-Del., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Alex Padilla, D-Calif, Jack Reed, D-R.I., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Mark Warner, D-Va., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

The Right to Contraception Act is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Women’s Law Center, National Organization for Women, Power to Decide, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Reproductive Health Access Project, Catholics for Choice, Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, Upstream USA, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Partnership for Women & Families, Jewish Women International, Positive Women’s Network-USA, and the National Council of Jewish Women.