Shaheen Helps Introduce Bill to Protect Americans’ Right to Contraception

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) joined Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and a group of lawmakers in introducing the Right to Contraception Act, legislation to codify Americans’ right to contraception, which the Supreme Court first recognized more than half a century ago in Griswold v. Connecticut. Enshrining the right to contraception into federal law would reverse steps already taken by Republicans in states across the country to restrict access to contraceptives and ensure that any future attempt by the Supreme Court to overturn Griswold would not endanger access to this essential health care.

“As comprehensive access to reproductive health care comes under attack by extreme members of the GOP, every option must be considered to protect these essential services for all Americans,” said Shaheen. “That’s why I’m proud to help introduce the Right to Contraception Act, a bill that will enshrine the right for anyone to access birth control. No lawmaker or unelected jurist should be allowed to overrule an individual’s private family planning decisions. This is one step Congress can take in Democrats’ efforts to restore and protect a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body and future.”

Specifically, the Right to Contraception Act would uphold access to contraception by: 

• Guaranteeing the legal right for individuals to get and use contraception; 
   
• Establishing the right for health care providers to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information, referrals, and services related to contraception; 
   
• Prohibiting the federal government or any state from administering, implementing, or enforcing any law, rule, regulation, standard, or other provision that would prohibit or restrict the sale, provision, or use of contraception; and 
   
• Allowing the Department of Justice (DOJ), providers, and individuals harmed by restrictions on contraception access made unlawful under the legislation, to go to court to enforce these rights. 

Nine out of 10 American adults support access to all forms of birth control, but several states have restricted access to contraceptives by eliminating public funding for it, defining abortion broadly enough to include contraception, and allowing health care providers to deny services related to contraception on the basis of their own beliefs. In New Hampshire, Republicans on the Executive Council have defunded family planning clinics providing the overwhelming majority of family planning services in the state and rejected funding to continue offering evidence-based sex education programming to at-risk youth. Attacks on health care, especially reproductive health care, fall hardest on Black, Brown, Indigenous and immigrant communities, as well as people with disabilities, low-income people, and those living in rural and underserved areas.

In addition to Shaheen, Kaine, Markey, Hirono and Duckworth, the Right to Contraception Act is cosponsored by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tom Carper (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Senator Shaheen is an unrelenting advocate for women’s reproductive rights. For years, Shaheen has fought to expand coverage of women’s reproductive health and successfully pushed an effort through Congress that was signed into law to ensure servicewomen have access to abortions in cases of rape or incest. Shaheen also leads policy priorities that invest in preventative care, including through her legislation to bring the cost of contraception for servicewomen and dependents in military families in line with coverage of the civilians they’re sworn to protect. Earlier this month, Shaheen participated in a Morning Joe panel discussion conducted by Ali Vitali ahead of the June 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade.

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