Access to Birth Control Act
Latest action · Jun 6, 2007 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 6, 2007
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Access to Birth Control Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require pharmacies to comply with certain rules related to contraceptives, including: (1) providing a customer a contraceptive without delay if it is in stock; (2) immediately informing a customer if the contraceptive is not in stock and either transferring the prescription to a pharmacy that has the contraceptive in stock or expediting the ordering of the contraceptive and notifying the customer when it arrives, based on customer preference; and (3) ensuring that pharmacy employees do not take certain actions relating to a request for contraception, including intimidating, threatening, or harassing customers, interfering with or obstructing the delivery of services, intentionally misrepresenting or deceiving customers about the availability of contraception or its mechanism of action, breaching or threatening to breach medical confidentiality, or refusing to return a valid, lawful prescription.
Provides that a pharmacy is not prohibited from refusing to provide a contraceptive to a customer if: (1) it is unlawful to dispense the contraceptive to the customer without a valid, lawful prescription and no such prescription is presented; (2) the customer is unable to pay for the contraceptive; or (3) the employee of the pharmacy refuses to provide the contraceptive on the basis of a professional clinical judgment.
Provides that this Act does not preempt state law or any professional obligation of a state board that provides greater protections for customers.
Sets forth civil penalties and establishes a a private cause of action for violations of this Act.
Cosponsors 58
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 6, 2007 to Nov 20, 2008, with 3 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-CT | Christopher Shays | Original | Jun 6, 2007 |
| D-CA | Henry A. Waxman | Original | Jun 6, 2007 |
| D-WA | Jay Inslee | Original | Jun 6, 2007 |
| D-MD | Chris Van Hollen | Jun 7, 2007 | |
| D-NJ | Donald M. Payne | Jun 7, 2007 | |
| D-FL | Robert Wexler | Jun 7, 2007 | |
| D-ME | Thomas H. Allen | Jun 7, 2007 | |
| D-MD | Albert Russell Wynn | Jun 13, 2007 | |
| D-NC | Brad Miller | Jun 13, 2007 | |
| D-NY | Carolyn McCarthy | Jun 13, 2007 | |
| D-IL | Danny K. Davis | Jun 13, 2007 | |
| D-WI | Gwen Moore | Jun 13, 2007 | |
| D-MA | James P. McGovern | Jun 13, 2007 | |
| D-CA | Lois Capps | Jun 13, 2007 | |
| D-CA | Sam Farr | Jun 13, 2007 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 6, 2007Introduced in House
- Jun 6, 2007Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 1555 | Access to Birth Control Act | Identical bill | Jun 6, 2007 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 6, 2007Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.