Courtney Votes to Codify Americans’ Right to Use Contraceptives—A Right with Special Meaning for the State of Connecticut

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) voted to pass legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would shield the right of Americans to access and use contraceptives. The Right to Contraception Act (H.R. 8373) would codify rights guaranteed to Americans through the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, guaranteeing that neither individual states nor future administrations can limit people's access to contraceptives, or the ability of health care professionals to provide contraceptives and information related to them. The Right to Contraception Act was passed in the House today by a vote of 228-195-2, and will now await consideration by the Senate.

"It is critically important for the Congress to take action and create statutory protections across the country for critical areas of family life, marriage, and privacy within our homes that America has taken for granted for too long," said Congressman Courtney. "The Supreme Court's decision on abortion rocked the entire notion that had built up through case law over the years that ‘unenumerated rights' are protected, and extremists nationwide are using it as a platform to tear down other rights that people fought for decades to secure. The right to contraception has a special history in our state—it was Griswold v. Connecticut that first established married couples' right to make their own family decisions and to use contraception without government interference. Feminist and civil rights icons like Estelle Griswold of New Haven, and her attorney Catherine Roraback—the only woman in her graduating class at Yale Law School in 1941—poured themselves into securing basic rights like these, and we cannot sit idly by while they're being threatened. The Right to Contraception Act would codify the rights guaranteed through Griswold, and I was proud to help pass it in the House today."

The Right to Use Contraceptives Has Special Meaning for Connecticut

The right to access and use contraceptives hits close to home for the State of Connecticut. An overwhelming majority of women in the U.S. report having used some form of contraception and support having access to it; it is crucial for preventing unwanted pregnancies, as well as a wide array of medical conditions and decreasing the risk of cancer; and it allows women and families to plan and make decisions about their lives and futures.

The freedom to use contraceptives stems directly from Griswold v. Connecticut, a 1965 U.S. Supreme Court case that pitted Estelle Griswold—a civil rights activist, feminist, and former Executive Director of Planned Parenthood in New Haven—against the State of Connecticut and its 82-year-old birth control law. Griswold was represented by Catherine Roraback, a civil rights attorney with deep ties to Connecticut, and a 1941 graduate of Yale Law School. That year, Roraback was the only woman in her graduating class at Yale.

The work of Griswold and Roraback in Griswold v. Connecticut led to the Court's decision that the U.S. Constitution protects the liberty of Americans to buy and use contraceptives, free from government restrictions. However, Since the Court struck down its precedent protecting abortion rights nationwide, Americans have already seen the beginnings of an effort to roll back other freedoms that stem from our basic right to privacy—including the right to use contraceptives. For example, in states like Idaho and Louisiana, state legislators have used the Dobbs decision to try to block or ban certain contraceptive methods, like emergency contraception and IUDs. Governors in states like Mississippi have refused to rule out banning contraception following Dobbs, while other legislators and candidates in Arizona, Michigan, and Tennessee have begun calling the Griswold decision into question.

In his concurring opinion to the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly called on the Supreme Court to reconsider its decisions protecting use of contraceptives and other fundamental rights. Thomas wrote that although nothing in the Dobbs decision "should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion […] in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell."

The Right to Contraception Act would codify the right to access and use contraceptives, which is guaranteed by Griswold, into law. Specifically, the bill would:

• Codify Into Law the Right to Access and Use Contraceptives—The bill establishes a statutory right to obtain contraceptives and to engage in contraception, and for health care providers to provide contraceptives, contraception, an information related to contraception.
• Protect Individuals Nationwide Against Restrictive State Laws—H.R. 8373 also protects against any state laws that attempt to restrict access to contraceptives, and affirms the Attorney General's enforcement authority to bring civil actions against any state that attempts to do so.
• Empower Americans to Enforce Their Right to Contraception—The bill establishes a right of action for individuals to enforce their right to obtain contraceptives, and for health care providers to enforce their right to provide contraceptives and information related to contraception.

###