WATCH: Senator Baldwin Calls on Colleagues to Protect Americans’ Right to Contraception

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) urged her colleagues to advance the Right to Contraception Act, legislation that would put into law Americans’ right to contraception. Americans’ access to contraception has been put in jeopardy since the Supreme Court indicated it should reconsider the case, Griswold v. Connecticut, which first recognized the right to contraception when it overturned Roe v. Wade. The Senate is set to vote on advancing the legislation, which Senator Baldwin co-sponsors, Wednesday afternoon.

“Wisconsinites have said loud and clear that they want the right to control their own bodies, families, and futures without interference by judges or politicians. Unfortunately for millions of women, that right is no longer certain,” said Senator Baldwin. “When the activist Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and stripped women of the right to choose, they also put the right to contraception on the chopping block. I am not willing to let Wisconsin women lose another freedom and we must safeguard Americans’ right to access contraception regardless of where they live. I urge my colleagues from both parties to stand with the vast majority of Americans who want to protect access to safe, effective contraception.”

Although 8 in 10 Americans say access to contraception is deeply important to them and 90% think birth control should be legal in all or most cases, 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.

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.

Full video of Senator Baldwin’s remarks is available here.

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