Findings

The Senate finds the following: (1) Birth control is critical health care that almost all women, as well as many trans men and nonbinary people, will use at some point in their lifetimes. (2) Access to the full range of reproductive health care, including birth control coverage as guaranteed under Federal law, provides individuals with the opportunity to lead healthy lives and get the care they need to reach their goals. (3) Contraceptive access is associated with health benefits for women, newborns, families, and communities and can lower the risk of harm to maternal and infant health. (4) An estimated 75,600,000 women of reproductive age (ages 15 through 49) live in the United States. Among the 36,300,000 of such women who are sexually active and not seeking children, 87 percent use a form of birth control. (5) The birth control benefit enacted under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148) has been a crucial step forward in advancing access to birth control and has helped ensure 62,100,000 women have the power to decide for themselves if and when to become pregnant. (6) Despite legal requirements for birth control coverage and access to services, gaps remain for millions of individuals. Twenty-five percent of current and prospective contraceptive users are not using their preferred method, and of those women, 18 percent say it is because of cost. As a result, many women have gone without the birth control they want to use, also creating inconsistent use. Access to birth control is particularly difficult for the 21,400,000 women in need of publicly funded contraception that live in a county with a contraceptive access gap and lack reasonable access to a health center that offers the full range of contraceptive methods. (7) Due to systemic discrimination, people paid low wages, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and people with disabilities are more likely to face barriers to, and lack access to, health coverage and health care providers. (8) There are numerous social and economic factors that make it harder to access birth control, including rising income and wealth inequality, gaps in insurance coverage, and barriers to accessing health providers. (9) Leading health experts support over-the-counter birth control pills.