Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Nearly 9 in 10 women of reproductive age have used contraception, and nearly 9 in 10 adults agree that everyone deserves access to the full range of birth control methods, no matter who they are, where they live, or their economic status. More than 19,000,000 women, plus more transgender and nonbinary individuals, of reproductive age in the United States live in contraceptive deserts, meaning they lack reasonable access in their county to a health center offering the full range of contraceptive methods.
Additionally, 1,200,000 of such women live in a county without a single health center offering the full range of contraceptive methods. Research shows that Black women are more likely to live in a contraceptive desert, and face barriers accessing pharmacies. Systemic racism, discrimination, and lack of access to comprehensive sex education exacerbates severe health inequities and creates additional barriers to accessing contraception. Due to high uninsured rates and barriers, Hispanic women with low incomes experience a significantly higher rate of unintended pregnancy, of 58 percent, compared to their White counterparts, with a rate of 33 percent.
A 2023 study found that among people who identified as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander, Black or African American, Indigenous, Latina, or Latinx, 45 percent of respondents reported experiencing at least one challenge accessing contraception in the past year. To address the challenges in accessing contraceptive care, proper investments need to be made to improve availability to such care nationwide, with a particular focus in the counties where health centers currently do not offer the full range of methods.
The family planning safety net has been chronically underfunded and is in dire need of significant additional investment. The family planning program under title X of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300 et seq. ) has been funded at the same level for a decade, and needs more than 3 times the current funding level to meet the demonstrated need. However, even if such program were fully funded, there would still be factors that strain provider capacity and limit the ability to meet the needs of contraception patients.
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