I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 999
To protect an individual’s ability to access contraceptives and to engage
in contraception and to protect a health care providers ability to provide
contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY5, 2025
Mrs. F
LETCHER(for herself, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, Ms. CRAIG, Ms. JA-
COBS, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. AMO, Ms. ANSARI, Mr.
A
UCHINCLOSS, Ms. BALINT, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BELL,
Mr. B
ERA, Mr. BEYER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BOYLEof Pennsylvania, Ms.
B
ROWN, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Ms. BYNUM, Mr. CARBAJAL,
Mr. C
ARSON, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana, Mr. CASAR, Mr. CASE, Mr.
C
ASTEN, Ms. CASTORof Florida, Mr. CASTROof Texas, Mrs.
C
HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CHU, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. CLARKof Massa-
chusetts, Ms. C
LARKEof New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr.
C
OHEN, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. CORREA, Mr. COSTA, Ms.
C
ROCKETT, Mr. CROW, Ms. DAVIDSof Kansas, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Ms.
D
EANof Pennsylvania, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. DELBENE,
Mr. D
ELUZIO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. DEXTER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. DOG-
GETT, Ms. ELFRETH, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANSof
Pennsylvania, Mr. F
OSTER, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Mr. FIGURES, Ms. LOIS
F
RANKELof Florida, Ms. FRIEDMAN, Mr. FROST, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr.
G
ARCIAof California, Ms. GARCIAof Texas, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois, Ms.
G
ILLEN, Ms. PEREZ, Mr. GOLDENof Maine, Mr. GOLDMANof New York,
Mr. G
OMEZ, Ms. GOODLANDER, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. GREENof Texas,
Mrs. H
AYES, Mr. HIMES, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. HOYER,
Ms. H
OYLEof Oregon, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. IVEY, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms.
J
OHNSONof Texas, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Ms.
K
APTUR, Mr. KEATING, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI,
Mr. L
ANDSMAN, Mr. LARSONof Connecticut, Mr. LARSENof Wash-
ington, Mr. L
ATIMER, Ms. LEEof Pennsylvania, Ms. LEEof Nevada, Ms.
L
EGERFERNANDEZ, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LICCARDO, Mr. LIEU, Mr. MAG-
AZINER, Mr. MANNION, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. MCBRIDE, Mrs.
M
CCLAINDELANEY, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. MCDONALD
R
IVET, Mr. MCGARVEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MEEKS, Mr.
M
ENENDEZ, Ms. MENG, Mr. MFUME, Mr. MIN, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin,
Mr. M
ORELLE, Ms. MORRISON, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Mr. MOULTON, Mr.
M
RVAN, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. NEAL, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. NOR-
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CROSS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. OLSZEWSKI, Ms. OMAR,
Mr. P
ALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. PETERS, Ms.
P
ETTERSEN, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. POCAN, Ms. POU, Ms.
P
RESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. RANDALL, Mr. RASKIN,
Ms. R
IVAS, Ms. ROSS, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SALINAS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ,
Ms. S
CANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. SCHOLTEN, Ms.
S
CHRIER, Mr. SCOTTof Virginia, Mr. DAVIDSCOTTof Georgia, Ms. SE-
WELL, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. SIMON, Mr. SMITHof Wash-
ington, Mr. S
ORENSEN, Mr. SOTO, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. STANTON, Ms.
S
TEVENS, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. SUBRAMANYAM, Mr. SWALWELL, Mrs.
S
YKES, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSONof California, Mr.
T
HOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr.
T
ONKO, Mrs. TORRESof California, Mr. TORRESof New York, Mrs.
T
RAHAN, Mr. TRAN, Mr. TURNERof Texas, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr.
V
ARGAS, Mr. VASQUEZ, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. VINDMAN,
Ms. W
ASSERMANSCHULTZ, Ms. WATERS, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Ms.
W
ILSONof Florida, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. KENNEDYof New
York, and Ms. L
OFGREN) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To protect an individual’s ability to access contraceptives
and to engage in contraception and to protect a health
care providers ability to provide contraceptives, contra-
ception, and information related to contraception.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Right to Contraception 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) C
ONTRACEPTION.—The term ‘‘contracep-8
tion’’ means an action taken to prevent pregnancy, 9
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including the use of contraceptives or fertility-aware-1
ness-based methods and sterilization procedures. 2
(2) C
ONTRACEPTIVE.—The term ‘‘contracep-3
tive’’ means any drug, device, or biological product 4
intended for use in the prevention of pregnancy, 5
whether specifically intended to prevent pregnancy 6
or for other health needs, that is approved, cleared, 7
authorized, or licensed under section 505, 510(k), 8
513(f)(2), 515, or 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, 9
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355, 360(k), 10
360c(f)(2), 360e, 360bbb–3) or section 351 of the 11
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262). 12
(3) G
OVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘government’’ 13
includes each branch, department, agency, instru-14
mentality, and official of the United States or a 15
State. 16
(4) H
EALTH CARE PROVIDER .—The term 17
‘‘health care provider’’ means any entity or indi-18
vidual (including any physician, certified nurse-mid-19
wife, nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, 20
and pharmacist) that is licensed or otherwise author-21
ized by a State to provide health care services. 22
(5) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of 23
the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com-24
monwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory and 25
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possession of the United States, and any political 1
subdivision of any of the foregoing, including any 2
unit of local government, such as a county, city, 3
town, village, or other general purpose political sub-4
division of a State. 5
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) The right to contraception is a fundamental 8
right, central to an individual’s privacy, health, well- 9
being, dignity, liberty, equality, and ability to par-10
ticipate in the social and economic life of the Nation. 11
(2) The Supreme Court has repeatedly recog-12
nized the constitutional right to contraception. 13
(3) In Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479 14
(1965)), the Supreme Court first recognized the con-15
stitutional right for married people to use contracep-16
tives. 17
(4) In Eisenstadt v. Baird (405 U.S. 438 18
(1972)), the Supreme Court confirmed the constitu-19
tional right of all people to legally access contracep-20
tives regardless of marital status. 21
(5) In Carey v. Population Services Inter-22
national (431 U.S. 678 (1977)), the Supreme Court 23
affirmed the constitutional right to contraceptives 24
for minors. 25
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(6) The right to contraception has been repeat-1
edly recognized internationally as a human right. 2
The United Nations Population Fund has published 3
several reports outlining family planning as a basic 4
human right that advances women’s health, eco-5
nomic empowerment, and equality. 6
(7) Access to contraceptives is internationally 7
recognized by the World Health Organization as ad-8
vancing other human rights such as the right to life, 9
liberty, expression, health, work, and education. 10
(8) Contraception is safe, essential health care, 11
and access to contraceptive products and services is 12
central to people’s ability to participate equally in 13
economic and social life in the United States and 14
globally. Contraception allows people to make deci-15
sions about their families and their lives. 16
(9) Contraception is key to sexual and repro-17
ductive health. Contraception is critical to pre-18
venting unintended pregnancy, and many contracep-19
tives are highly effective in preventing and treating 20
a wide array of medical conditions and decrease the 21
risk of certain cancers. 22
(10) Contraception has been associated with 23
improved health outcomes for women, their families, 24
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and their communities and reduces rates of maternal 1
and infant mortality and morbidity. 2
(11) The United States has a long history of 3
reproductive coercion, including the childbearing 4
forced upon enslaved women, as well as the forced 5
sterilization of Black women, Puerto Rican women, 6
indigenous women, immigrant women, and disabled 7
women, and reproductive coercion continues to 8
occur. This history also includes the coercive testing 9
of contraceptive pills on women and girls in Puerto 10
Rico. 11
(12) The right to make personal decisions about 12
contraceptive use is important for all Americans, 13
and is especially critical for historically marginalized 14
groups, including Black, indigenous, and other peo-15
ple of color; immigrants; LGBTQ+ people; people 16
with disabilities; people paid low wages; and people 17
living in rural and underserved areas. 18
(13) Many people who are part of the 19
marginalized groups described in paragraph (12) al-20
ready face barriers, exacerbated by social, political, 21
economic, and environmental inequities, to com-22
prehensive health care, including reproductive health 23
care, that reduce their ability to make decisions 24
about their health, families, and lives. 25
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(14) State and Federal policies governing phar-1
maceutical and insurance policies affect the accessi-2
bility of contraceptives and the settings in which 3
contraception services are delivered. 4
(15) People engage in interstate commerce to 5
access contraception services. 6
(16) To provide contraception services, health 7
care providers employ and obtain commercial serv-8
ices from doctors, nurses, and other personnel who 9
engage in interstate commerce and travel across 10
State lines. 11
(17) Congress has the authority to enact this 12
Act to protect access to contraception pursuant to— 13
(A) its powers under the Commerce Clause 14
of section 8 of article I of the Constitution of 15
the United States; 16
(B) its powers under section 5 of the Four-17
teenth Amendment to the Constitution of the 18
United States to enforce the provisions of sec-19
tion 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment; and 20
(C) its powers under the necessary and 21
proper clause of section 8 of article I of the 22
Constitution of the United States. 23
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(18) Congress has used its authority in the past 1
to protect and expand access to contraception infor-2
mation, products, and services. 3
(19) In 1970, Congress established the family 4
planning program under title X of the Public Health 5
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300 et seq.), the only Fed-6
eral grant program dedicated to family planning and 7
related services, providing access to information, 8
products, and services for contraception. 9
(20) In 1972, Congress required the Medicaid 10
program to cover family planning services and sup-11
plies and the Medicaid program currently accounts 12
for 75 percent of Federal funds spent on family 13
planning. 14
(21) In 2010, Congress enacted the Patient 15
Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 16
111–148) (referred to in this section as the ‘‘ACA’’). 17
Among other provisions, the ACA included provi-18
sions to expand the affordability and accessibility of 19
contraception by requiring health insurance plans to 20
provide coverage for preventive services with no pa-21
tient cost-sharing. 22
(22) States tried have tried to ban access to 23
some or all contraceptives by restricting access to 24
public funding for these products and services. Fur-25
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thermore, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and 1
Texas have infringed on people’s ability to access 2
their contraceptive care by violating the free choice 3
of provider requirement under the Medicaid pro-4
gram. 5
(23) Providers’ refusals to offer contraceptives 6
and information related to contraception based on 7
their own personal beliefs impede patients from ob-8
taining their preferred method of contraception, with 9
laws in 12 States as of the date of introduction of 10
this Act specifically allowing health care providers to 11
refuse to provide services related to contraception. 12
(24) States have attempted to define abortion 13
expansively so as to include contraceptives in State 14
bans on abortion and have also restricted access to 15
emergency contraception. 16
(25) Justice Thomas, in his concurring opinion 17
in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization 18
(142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022)), stated that the Supreme 19
Court ‘‘should reconsider all of this Court’s sub-20
stantive due process precedents, including Griswold, 21
Lawrence, and Obergefell’’ and that the Court has 22
‘‘a duty to correct the error established in those 23
precedents’’ by overruling them. 24
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(26) In order to further public health and to 1
combat efforts to restrict access to reproductive 2
health care, congressional action is necessary to pro-3
tect access to contraceptives, contraception, and in-4
formation related to contraception for everyone, re-5
gardless of actual or perceived race, ethnicity, sex 6
(including gender identity and sexual orientation), 7
income, disability, national origin, immigration sta-8
tus, or geography. 9
SEC. 4. PURPOSES. 10
The purposes of this Act are— 11
(1) to provide a clear and comprehensive right 12
to contraception; 13
(2) to permit individuals to seek and obtain 14
contraceptives and engage in contraception, and to 15
permit health care providers to facilitate that care; 16
and 17
(3) to protect an individual’s ability to make de-18
cisions about their body, medical care, family, and 19
life’s course, and thereby protect the individual’s 20
ability to participate equally in the economic and so-21
cial life of the United States. 22
SEC. 5. PERMITTED SERVICES. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—An individual has a statutory 24
right under this Act to obtain contraceptives and to volun-25
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tarily engage in contraception, free from coercion, and a 1
health care provider has a corresponding right to provide 2
contraceptives, contraception, and information, referrals, 3
and services related to contraception. 4
(b) L
IMITATIONS ORREQUIREMENTS.—The statu-5
tory rights specified in subsection (a) shall not be limited 6
or otherwise infringed through any limitation or require-7
ment that— 8
(1) expressly, effectively, implicitly, or as-imple-9
mented singles out— 10
(A) the provision of contraceptives, contra-11
ception, or contraception-related information; 12
(B) health care providers who provide con-13
traceptives, contraception, or contraception-re-14
lated information; or 15
(C) facilities in which contraceptives, con-16
traception, or contraception-related information 17
is provided; and 18
(2) impedes access to contraceptives, contracep-19
tion, or contraception-related information. 20
(c) E
XCEPTION.—To defend against a claim that a 21
limitation or requirement violates a health care provider’s 22
or individual’s statutory rights under subsection (b), a 23
party must establish, by clear and convincing evidence, 24
that— 25
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(1) the limitation or requirement significantly 1
advances access to contraceptives, contraception, and 2
information related to contraception; and 3
(2) access to contraceptives, contraception, and 4
information related to contraception or the health of 5
patients cannot be advanced by a less restrictive al-6
ternative measure or action. 7
(d) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-8
tion shall be construed to limit the authority of the Sec-9
retary of Health and Human Services, acting through the 10
Commissioner of Food and Drugs, to approve, clear, au-11
thorize, or license contraceptives under section 505, 12
510(k), 513(f)(2), 515, or 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, 13
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355, 360(k), 360c(f)(2), 14
360e, 360bbb–3) or section 351 of the Public Health Serv-15
ice Act (42 U.S.C. 262), or for the Federal Government 16
to enforce such approval, clearance, authorization, or li-17
censure. 18
SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY AND PREEMPTION. 19
(a) G
ENERALAPPLICATION.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub-21
section (c), this Act supersedes and applies to the 22
law of the Federal Government and each State, and 23
the implementation of such law, whether statutory, 24
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common law, or otherwise, and whether adopted be-1
fore or after the date of enactment of this Act. 2
(2) P
ROHIBITION.—Neither the Federal Gov-3
ernment nor any State may administer, implement, 4
or enforce any law, rule, regulation, standard, or 5
other provision having the force and effect of law in 6
a manner that— 7
(A) prohibits or restricts the sale, provi-8
sion, or use of any contraceptives as defined in 9
section 2(2); 10
(B) prohibits or restricts any individual 11
from aiding another individual in voluntarily 12
obtaining or using any contraceptives or contra-13
ceptive methods; or 14
(C) exempts any contraceptives or contra-15
ceptive methods from any other generally appli-16
cable law in a way that would make it more dif-17
ficult to sell, provide, obtain, or use such con-18
traceptives or contraceptive methods. 19
(3) R
ELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER LAWS .—This 20
Act applies notwithstanding any other provision of 21
Federal law, including the Religious Freedom Res-22
toration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.). 23
(b) S
UBSEQUENTLY ENACTEDFEDERALLEGISLA-24
TION.—Federal law enacted after the date of enactment 25
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of this Act is subject to this Act, unless such law explicitly 1
excludes such application by reference to this Act. 2
(c) L
IMITATIONS.—The provisions of this Act shall 3
not supersede or otherwise affect any provision of Federal 4
law relating to coverage under (and shall not be construed 5
as requiring the provision of specific benefits under) group 6
health plans or group or individual health insurance cov-7
erage or coverage under a Federal health care program 8
(as defined in section 1128B(f) of the Social Security Act 9
(42 U.S.C. 1320a–7b(f))), including coverage provided 10
under section 1905(a)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 11
U.S.C. 1396d(a)(4)(C)) and section 2713 of the Public 12
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–13). 13
(d) D
EFENSE.—In any cause of action against an in-14
dividual or entity who is subject to a limitation or require-15
ment that violates this Act, in addition to the remedies 16
specified in section 8, this Act shall also apply to, and 17
may be raised as a defense by, such an individual or entity. 18
(e) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This Act shall take effect im-19
mediately upon the date of enactment of this Act. 20
SEC. 7. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In interpreting the provisions of 22
this Act, a court shall liberally construe such provisions 23
to effectuate the purposes described in section 4. 24
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(b) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 1
shall be construed— 2
(1) to authorize any government to interfere 3
with a health care provider’s ability to provide con-4
traceptives or information related to contraception 5
or a patient’s ability to obtain contraceptives or to 6
engage in contraception; or 7
(2) to permit or sanction the conduct of any 8
sterilization procedure without the patient’s vol-9
untary and informed consent. 10
(c) O
THERINDIVIDUALSCONSIDERED ASGOVERN-11
MENTOFFICIALS.—Any individual who, by operation of 12
a provision of Federal or State law, is permitted to imple-13
ment or enforce a limitation or requirement that violates 14
section 5 shall be considered a government official for pur-15
poses of this Act. 16
SEC. 8. ENFORCEMENT. 17
(a) A
TTORNEYGENERAL.—The Attorney General 18
may commence a civil action on behalf of the United 19
States against any State that violates, or against any gov-20
ernment official (including an individual described in sec-21
tion 7(c)) that implements or enforces a limitation or re-22
quirement that violates, section 5. The court shall hold 23
unlawful and set aside the limitation or requirement if it 24
is in violation of this Act. 25
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(b) PRIVATERIGHT OFACTION.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any individual or entity, in-2
cluding any health care provider or patient, ad-3
versely affected by an alleged violation of this Act, 4
may commence a civil action against any State that 5
violates, or against any government official (includ-6
ing an individual described in section 7(c)) that im-7
plements or enforces a limitation or requirement 8
that violates, section 5. The court shall hold unlaw-9
ful and set aside the limitation or requirement if it 10
is in violation of this Act. 11
(2) H
EALTH CARE PROVIDER .—A health care 12
provider may commence an action for relief on its 13
own behalf, on behalf of the provider’s staff, and on 14
behalf of the provider’s patients who are or may be 15
adversely affected by an alleged violation of this Act. 16
(c) E
QUITABLERELIEF.—In any action under this 17
section, the court may award appropriate equitable relief, 18
including temporary, preliminary, and permanent injunc-19
tive relief. 20
(d) C
OSTS.—In any action under this section, the 21
court shall award costs of litigation, as well as reasonable 22
attorney’s fees, to any prevailing plaintiff. A plaintiff shall 23
not be liable to a defendant for costs or attorney’s fees 24
in any nonfrivolous action under this section. 25
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(e) JURISDICTION.—The district courts of the United 1
States shall have jurisdiction over proceedings under this 2
Act and shall exercise the same without regard to whether 3
the party aggrieved shall have exhausted any administra-4
tive or other remedies that may be provided for by law. 5
(f) A
BROGATION OF STATEIMMUNITY.—Neither a 6
State that enforces or maintains, nor a government official 7
(including an individual described in section 7(c)) who is 8
permitted to implement or enforce any limitation or re-9
quirement that violates section 5 shall be immune under 10
the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United 11
States, the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of 12
the United States, or any other source of law, from an 13
action in a Federal or State court of competent jurisdic-14
tion challenging that limitation or requirement. 15
SEC. 9. SEVERABILITY. 16
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 17
provision to any individual, entity, government, or cir-18
cumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 19
of this Act, or the application of such provision to all other 20
individuals, entities, governments, or circumstances, shall 21
not be affected thereby. 22
Æ
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