The Threat
Despite overwhelming public support, the constitutional right to contraception is being targeted by a range of candidates and policymakers who oppose reproductive health care -- including IVF -- and by the Supreme Court itself. Here are just some examples:
- On June 5, 2024, the majority of Republican senators voted against the Right to Contraception Act, which would have protected Americans' right to use basic birth control like IUDs, Plan B, condoms, and the pill.
- In July 2022, 195 members of the House of Representatives, including more than 90% of Republicans, voted against the Right to Contraception Act.
- When overturning the right to abortion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court should "reconsider" Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 decision that established the right to birth control.
- In February 2024, Alabama's Supreme Court ruled that embryos are children, putting access to IVF at risk.
- Soon after, Congress had the chance to pass a bill to protect access to IVF nationwide. Republicans in the Senate blocked it.
- The Life at Conception Act, which declares that human life begins at conception, has 132 Republican sponsors in the House, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. If passed, it could make IVF and certain forms of birth control illegal.
- Governor Lombardo vetoed Nevada's Right to Contraception Act, even though it passed with bipartisan support.
- In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin also vetoed the Right to Contraception Act.
- Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was caught on audio saying he was open to banning contraception.
- Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves refused to rule out banning contraception.
- Multiple U.S. representatives have falsely equated birth control and abortion. Rep. Matt Rosendale, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Rep. Lauren Boebert all did so as part of their official work in Congress!
- Powerful organizations are mobilizing against birth control and IVF. The Southern Baptist Convention voted to oppose IVF. Students for Life opposes common types of birth control. National groups like Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA), National Right to Life (NRLC), and the Catholic Medical Association lobbied against the Right to Contraception Act.
- U.S. senators have questioned whether there is a federal constitutional right to contraception. Senator Mike Braun of Indiana believes the issue should be left to the states. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee has stated that the right to contraception is "constitutionally unsound."