This week, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) led a hearing highlighting attacks on birth control access.  The hearing comes as the Trump administration freezes family planning funding, and as Republicans in Texas and states across the country restrict access to contraception.  At the hearing, members of Congress heard testimony from and questioned reproductive rights experts and advocates from across the country.  Congresswoman Fletcher and Senator Markey reintroduced the Right to Contraception Act to guarantee by law the right to contraception in February.

“As Republicans wage unprecedented and unconstitutional attacks on Americans’ health care, it is important for us to hear from those on the frontlines of the fight for reproductive freedom,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “Millions of Americans rely on contraception of all kinds to plan their families and their lives, and ninety percent of Americans support access to all forms of birth control.  I am grateful to Senator Markey for joining me in hosting today’s hearing to bring this important issue to light.  As a representative from a state intent on taking away our right and our access to quality, affordable reproductive health care, I will continue to do everything I can to protect the health, privacy, dignity, and autonomy of women and families across our country.”

“As Republicans pursue their agenda of unprecedented cuts to our health programs, banning funding for Planned Parenthood and ripping health care away from millions of Americans, the threat to the right to contraception is no longer hypothetical—it is real, and it is here,” said Senator Markey.  “We must meet this moment with the urgency it deserves.  We must pass the Right to Contraception Act and guarantee that reproductive freedom does not depend on where you live or who is in power in your statehouse.  We cannot allow MAGA extremists to roll back decades of progress. And we will not stop until the right to contraception and reproductive freedom is protected—for everyone, everywhere.”

In 2022, the Supreme Court held in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the Constitution does not confer the right to abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade.  In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly called on the Supreme Court to reconsider its decisions protecting fundamental rights, including the right to use contraceptives, which is recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut.  Since then, Republicans in states across the country have restricted access to contraceptives.  Texas, for example, is one of seven states that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions based on their personal beliefs.  And, Texas is one of 24 states that restricts minors' ability to obtain contraception without parental consent.

In June, Congresswoman Fletcher sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy urging the Trump administration to unfreeze funding for the Title X family planning program.  Congresswoman Fletcher sent a separate letter to the House Appropriations Committee requesting that Congress increase funding for the program in the upcoming appropriations legislation.

Congresswoman Fletcher was also an original co-sponsor of the Right to Contraception Act in the 117th and 118th Congresses.