House to vote on bill guaranteeing access to contraception

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 7/21/2022, 10:01 a.m.
The House is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would guarantee access to contraception by protecting the right …
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during an event on Capitol Hill earlier this week in Washington, DC. The House is expected to vote on July 21 on a bill that would guarantee access to contraception. Mandatory Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Originally Published: 21 JUL 22 09:31 ET

By Chandelis Duster, CNN

(CNN) -- The House is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would guarantee access to contraception by protecting the right to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction.

The vote falls among action House Democrats are trying to take following the Supreme Court's decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. In that decision, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote separately in a concurring opinion that the high court should reconsider "substantive due process precedents" in decisions, including Griswold v. Connecticut, that allows access to contraception.

The Right to Contraception Act, introduced by Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning of North Carolina, aims to "protect a person's ability to access contraceptives and to engage in contraception, and to protect a health care provider's ability to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception," according to text of the bill.

The White House said it "strongly supports" the bill in a statement Monday, adding "access to contraception is essential to ensuring all people have control over personal decisions about their own health, lives, and families."

Earlier this week, the House passed a bill that would enshrine protections for same-sex marriage into federal law, with 47 Republicans joining Democrats voting in favor of the bill. It is unclear whether the bill can pass the Senate where at least 10 Republicans are needed to side with Democrats to overcome the filibuster's 60-vote threshold.

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