Bill Would Protect Birth Control From Supreme Court Capitol Comments

Senator Robert Menendez

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) joined Senate and House colleagues in reintroducing the bicameral Right to Contraception Act, legislation that would codify and strengthen the right to contraception, which the Supreme Court first recognized more than half a century ago in its Griswold v. Connecticut decision. 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 far-right majority on the Supreme Court to overturn Griswold would not endanger access to this essential reproductive health care.

The lawmakers first introduced the legislation last July in the wake of Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization - which overturned Roe v. Wade and the Constitutional right to an abortion. In his concurring opinion, Justice Thomas urged the Court to “reconsider” its substantive due process precedents, including Griswold.

“Reproductive rights remain under a coordinated assault by Republicans across the nation including the latest attempts to ban medication abortion.

It’s critical that we work to reverse steps taken by the far-right and codify the right to contraception for all Americans,” said Sen. Menendez. “The Right to Contraception Act would safeguard the ability to access this essential reproductive health care without interference. We must protect these rights so everyone, regardless of race, socio-economic status, or zip code, has equal access to essential health services.”

“Birth control is a crucial part of reproductive health care,” said Sen. Booker.

“At a time when reproductive rights are under attack throughout the country, protecting Americans’ access to contraception is more important than ever. By enshrining the right to contraception into federal law, the Right to Contraception Act would protect access to this fundamental right so individuals can control their own bodies and futures.”

Although nine out of 10 American adults support access to all forms of birth control, several states restrict access to contraceptives by eliminating public funding for it, defining abortion broadly enough to include contraception, and allowing health care providers to deny service related to contraception on the basis of their own beliefs. Attacks on health care, especially reproductive health care, fall hardest on Black, Brown, Indigenous and immigrant communities, as well as LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, low-income people, and those living in rural and underserved areas.

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

• Guaranteeing the legal right for individuals to get and use contraception and 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.

In the House, the bill is supported by 71 members.

In April, Sen. Menendez led a group of Senate colleagues in introducing the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation (SAD) Act that would ban false advertising related to abortion services by Crisis Pregnancy Centers. The bill directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prohibit deceptive or misleading advertising related to the provision of abortion services and collect penalties from organizations in violation.

In 2022, Sens. Menendez and Booker joined a group of colleagues in commenting on the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) proposed rule prohibiting discrimination in health care under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. In their comment letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and the Department’s Director of the Office for Civil Rights, Melanie Fontes Rainer, the group of senators applauded the Biden Administration for restoring and expanding key nondiscrimination protections dismantled by the Trump Administration and urged to strengthen protections for underserved communities.

Also in 2022, the Senator joined a group of Democratic colleagues in introducing the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act which would make it clear that it is illegal for anti-choice states to limit travel for reproductive health care services and would empower the Attorneys General and affected individuals to bring civil action against those who restrict a woman’s right to cross state lines to receive such care.