On June 5, Senate Democrats forced a vote on the Right to Contraception Act, which would protect a person’s right to access contraceptives and health care providers’ ability to provide contraception, along with related services and information.
The bill, led by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), de fines contraceptives as “any drug, device, or biological product intended for use in the prevention of pregnan cy.” The definition includes emergency contraception like Plan B as well as birth control pills, intrauterine devices and other proactive birth control methods.
The Senate vote resulted in a 51-39 majority, but the act lacked the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. According to reports, Democrats forced the vote to get Republicans’ stance on contraception on the record before the presidential election. Republicans characterized the vote as an unnecessary political stunt.
“There’s no real opposition to contraception any where in the United States Senate or around the country, so I think it’s pretty much a non-issue,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who voted against the act. “It’s a show vote to deflect attention from the huge wave of inflation caused by the Democrats, the utter failure of their plan at the border and their lack of taking care of our national security needs.”
Other Republicans who opposed the act said they support access to contraceptives but agreed with Wicker that the legislation is unnecessary. “The Democrats are using their power to push an alarmist and false narrative that there is a problem accessing contraception,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). Nearly two dozen Republican senators signed a letter accusing Democrats of “fearmongering on this important issue to score cheap political points.” Other Republican legislators voiced concerns that the legislation would force Catholic schools or other religious institutions to provide birth control or gender
affirming care to students or employees. In an interview, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said “a judge could basically force Catholic schools and others to violate their religious conscience.”
In the final vote, 38 Republicans opposed the act while two Republicans voted for the act — Sens. Su san Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was the only Democrat to vote no. He changed his vote so he could bring the bill up for another vote in the future. While Democrats did not expect the bill to pass, they continue to maintain that access to contraceptives is legitimately under threat.
The bill cites a concurring opinion Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in 2022 for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that the court “should reconsider” other precedents in cases like Griswold v. Connecticut, a decision that gave married couples the right to use contraception. Former President Donald Trump said, if reelected, he would consider restrictions to birth control, a position he has walked back. On the state level, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin blocked a bill protecting the right to access contraception, saying he supports the right to birth control but that “we cannot trample on the religious freedoms of Virginians.” In Tennessee, Republicans blocked a bill that would have clarified that the state’s abortion ban doesn’t apply to emergency contraception.
The public’s misunderstanding of how emergency contraception works also may threaten access. Some states with significant abortion restrictions define a pregnancy as beginning at fertilization (the medical definition requires the egg to be implanted), and many people mistakenly believe that Plan B — the “morning-after” emergency contraceptive — prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg.
When Missouri’s abortion restrictions went into effect, a major hospital stopped providing Plan B out of concern it would be prosecuted if the state misunderstood how Plan B works. The governor’s office clarified that Plan B would not be affected by the ban. But in states with near-total abortion bans, even though emergency contraception remains legal, the use of Plan B has fallen by 60% due to clinic closures and misinformation.
“The right to contraception is the right to essential health care, yet extremist judges and radical Republicans continue to threaten access for millions of Americans,” Markey said in a statement. “We cannot stand by as extremists continue to undo decades of precedent and progress.”
Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), who helped introduce the act in the House, added, “Birth control is key to ensuring that women are in control of their own health, bodies and futures. … Americans should have the right to access all forms of FDA-approved birth control.”
