A Texas lawmaker introduces legislation to keep birth control legal.
Houston Democratic congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher says the Right to Contraception Act is actually necessary. In 1965, the Supreme Court ruled in the Griswold v. Connecticut decision that married Americans had the right to use birth control. That case established the right to privacy for married couples.
Nearly three years ago the high court overturned Roe V Wade. Fletcher says "in that Dobbs decision in 2022, Justice Thomas said we need to revisit that case. There are people not only in the courts saying we need to revisit it, but also in the state legislatures."
Texas is one of seven states that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions based on their personal beliefs. And, Texas is one of 24 states that restricts minors' ability to obtain contraception without parental consent.
If enacted, the Right to Contraception Act would:
- Create a federal right for people to obtain contraceptives;
- Establish a right for health care providers to provide contraceptives and information related to contraception;
- Allow the Department of Justice, as well as providers and individuals harmed by restrictions on contraception access made unlawful under the legislation, to go to court to enforce these rights; and
- Protect access to a range of contraceptive methods, devices, and medications used to prevent pregnancy, including but not limited to oral contraceptives, emergency contraceptives, and intrauterine devices (IUDs).
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