Bill Text: IA SF2135 | 2023-2024 | 90th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to the right to contraception.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-30 - Subcommittee: Edler, Costello, and Trone Garriott. S.J. 170. [SF2135 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2023-SF2135-Introduced.html

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Senate File 2135 - Introduced
SENATE FILE 2135
BY WAHLS , TRONE GARRIOTT , and
BENNETT
A BILL FOR
An Act relating to the right to contraception.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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Section 1. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS. The general assembly
finds all of the following:
1. The right to contraception is a fundamental right,
central to a person’s privacy, health, well-being, dignity,
liberty, equality, and ability to participate in the social and
economic life of the state.
2. The United States supreme court has repeatedly
recognized the constitutional right to contraception.
a. In Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), the
United States supreme court first recognized the constitutional
right for married people to use contraceptives.
b. In Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972), the United
States supreme court confirmed the constitutional right of all
people to legally access contraceptives regardless of marital
status.
c. In Carey v. Population Services International, 431
U.S. 678 (1977), the United States supreme court affirmed the
constitutional right to contraceptives for minors.
3. The right to contraceptives is protected under the
Iowa Constitution by Article I, section 1, as well as under
the United States Constitution right to privacy as determined
by Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), and the due
process clause as determined in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S.
558, 573-74 (2003).
4. The right to contraception has been repeatedly
recognized internationally as a human right.
a. The United Nations population fund has published several
reports outlining family planning as a basic human right that
advances women’s health, economic empowerment, and equality.
b. Access to contraceptives is internationally recognized
by the world health organization as advancing other human
rights such as the right to life, liberty, expression, health,
work, and education.
5. Contraception is safe, essential health care, and access
to contraceptive products and services is central to a person’s
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ability to participate equally in economic and social life.
6. Contraception allows a person to make decisions about
their families and their lives.
7. Contraception is key to sexual and reproductive health.
8. Contraception is critical to preventing unintended
pregnancy, and many contraceptives are highly effective in
preventing and treating a wide array of often severe medical
conditions and in decreasing the risk of certain cancers.
9. Family planning improves health outcomes for women,
their families, and their communities and reduces rates of
maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.
10. The United States has a long history of reproductive
coercion, including the childbearing forced upon enslaved
women, as well as the forced sterilization of African American
women, Puerto Rican women, indigenous women, immigrant
women, and women with disabilities, and reproductive coercion
continues to occur.
11. The right to make personal decisions about
contraceptive use is important for all people, and is
especially critical for historically marginalized groups,
including African American people, indigenous people, and
other people of color; immigrants; lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and queer people; people with disabilities; people
with low incomes; and people living in rural and underserved
areas. Many people who are part of these marginalized groups
already face barriers, exacerbated by social, political,
economic, and environmental inequities, to comprehensive health
care, including reproductive health care, that reduce their
ability to make decisions about their health, families, and
lives.
12. Policies governing pharmaceutical and insurance
policies affect the accessibility of contraceptives and the
settings in which contraception services are delivered.
13. Despite the clearly established constitutional right to
contraception, access to contraceptives, including emergency
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contraceptives and long-acting reversible contraceptives, has
been obstructed in various ways.
14. The refusals of providers to offer contraceptives
and contraception-related information on the basis of the
providers’ own personal beliefs impede patients from obtaining
their preferred method.
15. States have attempted to define abortion expansively in
order to include contraceptives in state bans on abortion and
have also restricted access to emergency contraception.
16. In June 2022, Justice Thomas, in his concurring
opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597
U.S. ____(2022), stated that the United States supreme court
“should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process
precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell” and
that the court has “a duty to correct the error established in
those precedents” by overruling them.
17. To further public health and to combat efforts to
restrict access to reproductive health care, action is
necessary to protect access to contraceptives, contraception,
and contraception-related information for everyone, regardless
of actual or perceived race; ethnicity; sex, including gender
identity and sexual orientation; income; disability; national
origin; immigration status; or geography.
Sec. 2. NEW SECTION . 135S.1 Short title.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Right to
Contraception Act”.
Sec. 3. NEW SECTION . 135S.2 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise
requires:
1. “Contraception” means an action taken to prevent
pregnancy, including the use of contraceptives or
fertility-awareness-based methods and sterilization procedures.
2. “Contraceptive” means any drug, device, or biological
product intended for use in the prevention of pregnancy,
whether specifically intended to prevent pregnancy or for
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other health needs, that is legally marketed under the federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, such as oral contraceptives,
long-acting reversible contraceptives including intrauterine
devices, emergency contraceptives, internal and external
condoms, injectables, vaginal barrier methods, transdermal
patches, vaginal rings, and other contraceptives.
3. “Health care provider” means the same as defined in
section 135P.1.
4. “Political subdivision” means a city, county, township,
village, or school district.
Sec. 4. NEW SECTION . 135S.3 Statutory right —— limitations
or requirements.
1. A person has a statutory right under this chapter to
obtain contraceptives and to engage in contraception, and a
health care provider has a corresponding right to provide
contraceptives, contraception, and contraception-related
information.
2. The statutory rights specified in subsection 1 shall not
be limited or otherwise infringed through any limitation or
requirement that does any of the following:
a. Expressly, effectively, implicitly, or as implemented
singles out:
(1) The provision of contraceptives, contraception, or
contraception-related information.
(2) Health care providers who provide contraceptives,
contraception, or contraception-related information.
(3) Facilities in which contraceptives, contraception, or
contraception-related information is provided.
b. Impedes access to contraceptives, contraception, or
contraception-related information.
3. To defend against a claim that a limitation or
requirement violates a health care provider’s or patient’s
statutory rights under subsection 2, a party must establish, by
clear and convincing evidence, all of the following:
a. The limitation or requirement significantly
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advances the safety of contraceptives, contraception, and
contraception-related information.
b. The safety of contraceptives, contraception, and
contraception-related information or the health of patients
cannot be advanced by a less restrictive alternative measure
or action.
Sec. 5. NEW SECTION . 135S.4 Applicability.
1. The state and any political subdivision of the state
shall not administer, implement, or enforce any law, rule,
regulation, standard, or other provision having the force and
effect of law in a manner that does any of the following:
a. Prohibits or restricts the sale, provision, or use of
any contraceptives that have been approved by the United States
food and drug administration for contraceptive purposes.
b. Prohibits or restricts any person from aiding another
person in obtaining any contraceptives approved by the United
States food and drug administration for contraceptive methods.
c. Exempts any contraceptives approved by the United
States food and drug administration from any other generally
applicable law in a way that would make it more difficult
to sell, provide, obtain, or use those contraceptives or
contraceptive methods.
2. This section does not supersede or otherwise affect any
provision relating to coverage under group health plans or
group or individual health insurance coverage and may not be
construed as requiring the provision of specific benefits under
those plans or coverage.
3. A person who is subject to a limitation or requirement
that violates this chapter may raise this section as a defense
to any cause of action against the person.
Sec. 6. NEW SECTION . 135S.5 Construction.
1. This chapter shall be liberally construed to effectuate
its purposes.
2. Nothing in this chapter may be construed to do any of the
following:
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a. Authorize any government or political subdivision to
interfere with a health care provider’s ability to provide
contraceptives or contraception-related information or a
person’s ability to obtain contraceptives or to engage in
contraception.
b. Permit or sanction the conduct of any sterilization
procedure without the patient’s voluntary and informed consent.
3. The constitutional protections relating to contraception
as a fundamental right shall not be limited statutorily
including by the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of
1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141.
Sec. 7. NEW SECTION . 135R.6 Enforcement.
1. The attorney general may commence a civil action on
behalf of the state against any person that violates or
enforces a limitation or requirement that violates this
chapter. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, in a
civil action brought under this chapter, the attorney general
may compromise and settle the action as the attorney general
determines to be in the best interest of the state.
2. Any person, including any health care provider or
patient, adversely affected by an alleged violation of this
chapter may commence a civil action against any person that
violates, implements, or enforces a limitation or requirement
that violates this chapter.
3. A health care provider may commence an action for relief
on the health care provider’s own behalf, on behalf of the
provider’s staff, or on behalf of the provider’s patients who
are or may be adversely affected by an alleged violation of
this chapter.
4. If a court finds that there has been a violation of
this chapter, the court shall set aside the limitation or
requirement as unlawful. In any action under this chapter,
the court may award appropriate equitable relief, including
temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief.
5. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, in any
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action under this chapter, the court shall award costs and
reasonable attorney fees to any prevailing plaintiff. Unless a
court determines an action is frivolous, the court shall not
hold a plaintiff liable to a defendant for costs and attorney
fees in an action under this chapter.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
This bill relates to the right to contraception.
The bill provides legislative findings including the
recognition by the United States Supreme Court of the right to
contraception as a fundamental right.
The bill establishes that a person has a statutory right to
obtain contraceptives, to engage in contraception, and that
a health care provider has a corresponding right to provide
contraceptives, contraception, and contraception-related
information. Under the bill, these rights may not be limited
or otherwise infringed through any limitation or requirement
that expressly, effectively, implicitly, or as implemented
singles out: the provision of contraceptives, contraception,
or contraception-related information; health care providers who
provide contraceptives, contraception, or contraception-related
information; or facilities in which contraceptives,
contraception, or contraception-related information
is provided; or that impedes access to contraceptives,
contraception, or contraception-related information. The
bill provides that a party may defend against a claim that
a limitation or requirement violates the rights established
under the bill by establishing, by clear and convincing
evidence, both that the limitation or requirement significantly
advances the safety of contraceptives, contraception, and
contraception-related information, and that the safety of
contraceptives, contraception, and contraception-related
information or the health of patients cannot be advanced by a
less restrictive alternative measure or action.
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The bill specifically provides that neither the state
nor any political subdivision of the state shall administer,
implement, or enforce any law, rule, regulation, standard,
or other provision having the force and effect of law in a
manner that prohibits or restricts the sale, provision, or use
of any contraceptives that have been approved by the United
States food and drug administration (FDA) for contraceptive
purposes; prohibits or restricts any person from aiding another
person in obtaining any contraceptives approved by the FDA or
contraceptive methods; or exempts any contraceptives approved
by the FDA from any other generally applicable law in a way
that would make it more difficult to sell, provide, obtain,
or use those contraceptives or contraceptive methods. The
bill is to be liberally construed and provides limitations
regarding how the bill may be construed. The bill provides
that the constitutional protections relating to the right to
contraception as a fundamental right shall not be limited
statutorily including by the federal Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993. The bill authorizes the attorney
general on behalf of the state or any person, including any
health care provider or patient, to bring a cause of action for
a violation of the bill.
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