The Vote Comes as a Majority of Americans Support Access to Birth Control
Des Moines, IA —Yesterday, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, both Republicans, voted against the Right to Contraception Act, joining 36 other Republican senators to defeat the measure. The bill would have established the right to access birth control and a health care provider's right to provide contraception and related information. It failed to reach the 60 votes required to pass the U.S. Senate.
Birth control is a safe and easy way to prevent pregnancy and helps treat certain health conditions while providing health benefits, such as making periods lighter and less painful and helping prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
A majority of Americans spanning party lines support access to birth control — 86 percent of Americans (including 91 percent of Democrats and 83 percent of Republicans) support policies that make it easier to access all forms of birth control methods.
Statement from Mazie Stilwell, Public Affairs Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa:
“Protecting access to birth control is important now more than ever given state politicians are hellbent on banning all abortions and forcing Iowans into pregnancy. Iowans need the tools to control their bodies and futures and deserve the right to birth control, not further attacks and manufactured chaos around reproductive health care. It’s beyond disappointing to see a proactive measure that codifies people’s control over their bodily autonomy fail just because of politician’s desire to achieve an unpopular, narrow agenda.”
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Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa (PPAI) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a mission of fostering and preserving a social and political climate favorable to reproductive health. To meet this mission, PPAI engages in lobbying, issues education, and supporter mobilization.
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