Bill Text: CA SJR4 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Senate Joint Resolution 4 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Title X.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 73-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-07-15 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 115, Statutes of 2019. [SJR4 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SJR4-Chaptered.html

Senate Joint Resolution No. 4

CHAPTER 115

Relative to Title X.

[ Filed with Secretary of State July 15, 2019. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SJR 4, Leyva. Title X.

This measure would urge the United States Department of Health and Human Services to rescind the new Title X regulations that will impede access to essential, time-sensitive health care for low-income individuals across California and the nation.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, The federal Title X family planning program was established in 1970 by the United States Congress with broad bipartisan support to provide high-quality family planning services and other preventive care to low-income and uninsured individuals who may otherwise lack access to health care; and

WHEREAS, Title X is the sole federal program dedicated to funding family planning services, including birth control, pregnancy testing, and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases; and

WHEREAS, Title X supports outreach and education efforts that link community members to care; and

WHEREAS, California’s Title X provider network, which is the largest and most diverse Title X system in the nation, served more than one million low-income Californians in 2017 and over 25 percent of all Title X patients nationwide; and

WHEREAS, Every $1 invested in publicly funded family planning and related services saves taxpayers $7 by helping avert costs related to unintended pregnancies; and

WHEREAS, One billion three hundred thousand dollars is saved annually in California because of public investment in family planning and related services provided at Title X health care centers across the state; and

WHEREAS, Services provided by clinics that received Title X funding in California helped patients avert over 200,000 unintended pregnancies in 2015; and

WHEREAS, Title X is an essential part of California’s family planning safety net and has played a critical role in reducing unintended pregnancy rates to a 30-year low; and

WHEREAS, The new federal Title X regulations interfere with the provider-patient relationship and gag Title X funded agencies by directing providers to withhold full and accurate medical information from patients about pregnancy options or by prohibiting providers from giving patients referrals for abortion care; and

WHEREAS, Patients rely on and trust their health care providers to provide a comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased evaluation of their condition, along with all available treatment options; and

WHEREAS, The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics establishes that withholding information without the patient’s knowledge or consent is ethically unacceptable and that patients should be informed of all burdens, risks, and expected benefits of all medical options; and

WHEREAS, The State of California strongly believes public dollars should go toward family planning programs that provide comprehensive, medically accurate, unbiased information, and offer the full range of contraceptive methods; and

WHEREAS, The federal government’s harmful Title X regulations are likely to force many health care organizations and qualified family planning providers in California to choose between a critical funding source and accepting onerous and unnecessary regulations, resulting in reduced access to quality, time-sensitive care for low-income individuals across the state; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges the United States Department of Health and Human Services to rescind the new Title X regulations that will impede access to essential, time-sensitive health care for low-income individuals across California and the nation; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and to the author for appropriate distribution.