U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), along with Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Patty Murray (D-WA), and 21 other colleagues, has reintroduced the Access to Birth Control Act. This legislation aims to ensure patients' timely access to birth control at pharmacies across the nation. The bill addresses the issue of pharmacies refusing contraception, thereby hindering patients from obtaining their preferred form of birth control medication. U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL) has introduced companion legislation in the House.
Contraception is a vital component of reproductive health care, and safeguarding access to it at pharmacies is increasingly critical due to ongoing attacks on reproductive health care throughout the country. Besides ensuring that patients can access contraception at pharmacies without delay, the bill also seeks to prevent an environment where patients feel intimidated, threatened, or harassed when seeking access to contraception or related medication. If a pharmacy violates these requirements, the bill establishes liability for civil penalties for the pharmacy and a private cause of action for patients seeking relief.
Despite Supreme Court precedent recognizing a protected right to contraception, conservatives on the Court have overlooked this precedent to undermine reproductive rights. In the radical Dobbs decision, the Court overturned nearly 50 years of Roe v. Wade precedent that guaranteed a right to access abortion care. Access to contraception in the United States should not depend on the Supreme Court's ideological balance or individual pharmacists' willingness to fill prescriptions.
According to the National Women’s Law Center, pharmacists in 24 states and the District of Columbia have refused to fill prescriptions for birth control or provide emergency contraception over-the-counter based on personal beliefs, negatively impacting patient health. These refusals disproportionately affect people of color, low-income individuals, LGBTQ people, and those living in rural and other underserved areas.
In addition to Senators Hirono, Booker, and Murray, this legislation is cosponsored by a number of other senators. The full text of the legislation is available online.