Denver — Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined their Senate colleagues to reintroduce the Right to Contraception Act, a bill that would strengthen the legal right to contraceptives.
“Last year, the Supreme Court stripped away a fundamental right from the American people for the first time since Reconstruction and denied their individual liberty to make intensely personal choices about their health and futures,” said Bennet. “As states across the country continue to restrict Americans’ access to reproductive health care, this bill would protect the right to access contraception.
“The freedom to decide when to start a family is fundamental,” said Hickenlooper. “This bill would protect access to all forms of birth control from any overreach by the Supreme Court.”
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, several states have passed laws to restrict access to contraceptives by eliminating public funding for it, defining abortion broadly enough to include contraception, or allowing providers to deny a patient contraception on the basis of their own beliefs. These restrictions to reproductive health care overwhelmingly impact rural, low-income, and LGBTQ communities and communities of color.
The Supreme Court first recognized the right to contraception in its 1965 decision in Griswold v. Connecticut. Enshrining the right to contraception into federal law would safeguard access to birth control across the country, protect against any attempt by the Supreme Court to overturn Griswold, and remove state restrictions on access to contraception already in place.
Specifically, the Right to Contraception Act would:
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Guarantee the right for individuals to access and use contraception, and for health care providers to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information, referrals, and services related to contraception;
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Prohibit the federal government or any state from administering, implementing, or enforcing any law, rule, regulation, standard or other provision to restrict the sale, provision, or use of contraception;
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Provide legal remedies for the U.S. Department of Justice, health care providers, and individuals affected by restrictions on contraception access to enforce the right to contraception.
The text of the bill is available HERE.