Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) joined Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) in pushing the Right to Contraception Act, a proposed legislation that would codify the fundamental and constitutional right to contraception, which the Supreme Court first recognized more than half a century ago in its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut.
The proposed legislation was introduced after Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, effectively overturning Roe v. Wade, where he urged the Court to reconsider its earlier ruling. Several states have already restricted access to contraception by cutting off public funding, defining abortion more broadly to include contraception, and allowing health care providers to refuse services related to contraception based on personal beliefs.
“For this far-right results-oriented Supreme Court and MAGA Republicans, controlling women’s bodies doesn’t just stop at forcing women to give birth, they actually want to ban contraception,” Hirono said. “Everyone in this country needs to realize that nothing is off the table for MAGA Republican controlled state governments and this Court—and we need to act now to protect the right to contraception.
She said Republicans' views on the right to contraception should be put on record, "or whether they will allow states and this Court to stop millions and millions of women from making decisions about their own health care."
The Right to Contraception Act would maintain access to contraception by establishing a statutory right for individuals to get contraceptives and to engage in contraception, and create a corresponding right for health care providers to provide contraceptives, contraception and information related to contraception.