Bill Sponsor
House Bill 2567
115th Congress(2017-2018)
Access to Birth Control Act
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in House on May 19, 2017
Overview
Text
Introduced
May 19, 2017
Latest Action
May 26, 2017
Origin Chamber
House
Type
Bill
Bill
The primary form of legislative measure used to propose law. Depending on the chamber of origin, bills begin with a designation of either H.R. or S. Joint resolution is another form of legislative measure used to propose law.
Bill Number
2567
Congress
115
Policy Area
Health
Health
Primary focus of measure is science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease; health services administration and funding, including such programs as Medicare and Medicaid; health personnel and medical education; drug use and safety; health care coverage and insurance; health facilities. Measures concerning controlled substances and drug trafficking may fall under Crime and Law Enforcement policy area.
Sponsorship by Party
Democrat
New York
Democrat
California
Democrat
California
Democrat
California
Democrat
California
Democrat
California
Democrat
District of Columbia
Democrat
Minnesota
Democrat
Rhode Island
Democrat
Wisconsin
House Votes (0)
Senate Votes (0)
No House votes have been held for this bill.
Summary

Access to Birth Control Act

This bill 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 ordering the contraceptive and notifying the customer when it arrives, based on customer preference, except for pharmacies that do not ordinarily stock contraceptives; 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 the delivery of services, intentionally deceiving customers about the availability or mechanism of action of contraception, breaching or threatening to breach medical confidentiality, or refusing to return a prescription.

The bill does not prohibit a pharmacy from refusing to provide a contraceptive to a customer if: (1) it is unlawful to dispense the contraceptive to the customer without a prescription and no prescription is presented; (2) the customer is unable to pay for the contraceptive; or (3) the pharmacy employee refuses to provide the contraceptive on the basis of a professional clinical judgment.

The bill does not preempt state law or any professional obligation of a state board that provides greater protections for customers.

Civil penalties and a private cause of action are established for violations of this bill.

Text (1)
Actions (3)
05/26/2017
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
05/19/2017
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
05/19/2017
Introduced in House
Public Record
Record Updated
Jan 11, 2023 1:36:41 PM