July 22, 2022

Duckworth, Durbin Join Smith in Introducing Legislation to Protect Access to Reproductive Healthcare Funding

Senators’ Expanding Access to Family Planning Act Would Provide Consistent Funding for the Title X Family Planning Program

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) and a group of their Democratic colleagues in introducing the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act. The bill would protect access to critical reproductive healthcare services—like birth control, cancer screenings and more—by providing a consistent and strong source of funding for the Title X Family Planning Program.

“In a nation with a growing maternal mortality crisis and often inaccessible healthcare—and now, in the absence of Roe—we need to push hard for access to comprehensive reproductive care,” said Duckworth. “I’m proud to help introduce this bill alongside my colleagues because every American in every state deserves access to basic, necessary healthcare—regardless of their skin color, zip code or income. The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act could bring us closer to that reality.”

“As we face the reality of a post-Roe America, robust funding for the Title X Family Planning Program is more important than ever,” said Durbin. “Women’s health care shouldn’t be up for debate. The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act would strengthen the Title X Family Planning Program and ensure that women continue to have access to reproductive health services, including birth control, pregnancy support, and cancer screenings.”

“At a time when Americans’ reproductive freedoms are under attack from extremist Republicans, the Title X Family Planning Program is more important than ever,” said Smith. “Title X funding provides American women with access to critical reproductive health services. I invite all my Republican colleagues who claim to champion family planning services to join us in supporting this commonsense legislation that will protect women’s access to birth control, pregnancy counseling, basic infertility services, and more.”

The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act would:

  1. Provide $500 million in mandatory funding for Title X services for each of the next 10 fiscal years.  This is well above the $286 million the program received in FY2022. 
  2. Deliver $50 million in mandatory funding for clinic construction, renovation and related infrastructure enhancements for each of the next 10 fiscal years.
  3. Reinstate regulations prohibiting discrimination of providers who deliver Title X services.
  4. Require that pregnancy counseling include information about prenatal care and delivery, infant care, foster care, adoption and pregnancy termination, unless a patient does not have any interest in receiving information about an option. 

Along with Duckworth, Durbin and Smith, the legislation is also cosponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Angus King (I-ME), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Mark Warner (D-VA).

The bill is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Catholics for Choice, the National Partnership for Women & Families, Power to Decide, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Council of Jewish Women, URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, ACLU, Advocates for Youth, National Women’s Law Center and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Full text of the bill is available here and a summary here.

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