[Congressional Bills 111th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H. Con. Res. 305 Introduced in House (IH)] 111th CONGRESS 2d Session H. CON. RES. 305 Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning contraceptives for women. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 27, 2010 Mrs. Lowey submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce _______________________________________________________________________ CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the Congress concerning contraceptives for women. Whereas the United States has one of the highest rates of abortion in the industrialized world, with American women experiencing 1.3 million abortions every year; Whereas behind almost every abortion in the United States is an unintended pregnancy, therefore, efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy will reduce the number of abortions; Whereas the most effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy is to improve access to safe, affordable, effective contraceptive methods and to provide medically accurate information about how to use such methods; Whereas contraceptive use has declined slightly among all women and precipitously among low-income women and, as a result, unplanned pregnancy rates have risen among low-income women by 30 percent; Whereas a low-income woman today is 4 times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy and more than 4 times as likely to have an abortion as her higher-income counterpart; Whereas abortion rates have increased among low-income women, even as they have continued to decrease among more affluent women; and Whereas the United States has an impressive capacity for marshaling the resources necessary to tackle pressing public health problems such as smoking, and the same should be done for the problem of unintended pregnancy by ensuring universal access to effective and affordable contraception: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress-- (1) supports a major, national campaign to help all women, regardless of income, avoid unintended pregnancy and abortion through access to contraception; and (2) supports programs and policies that make it easier for all women not only to obtain contraceptives but also to use them consistently and correctly over time. <all>