Sponsors (50)
The bill strengthens day-of access, privacy protections, and enforceability for contraception—particularly for women—while leaving important gaps (refusal carve-outs, payment/coverage barriers, implementation and enforcement limits) that could continue to block access for low-income people and some communities and that may impose costs and legal risks on pharmacies.
People seeking contraception (especially women and people who can become pregnant) will get immediate access to in-stock contraceptives and prompt referrals or transfers to nearby pharmacies when items are out of stock, reducing delays in obtaining birth control.
Consumers (patients seeking contraception) gain enforceable remedies: a private right of action and civil penalties for pharmacies that improperly deny access, increasing accountability and potential redress.
Women and people who can become pregnant: the bill affirms family planning as basic health care and highlights ACA-era no-cost contraceptive coverage, reinforcing reproductive autonomy and the policy basis for maintaining coverage.
Pharmacists' refusals and allowed professional/clinical-judgment carve-outs will still let pharmacies deny contraception in many places, meaning access disruptions will continue for people in numerous States and DC.
Low-income and uninsured individuals may still face practical barriers because cost and insurance coverage gaps persist and customers who cannot pay can be refused, leaving many unable to obtain contraception despite other access rules.
HHS findings and guidance that label some refusals as sex discrimination do not themselves create new duties or funding, so protections could lack immediate legal effect without further legislation or enforcement, limiting the policy's practical impact.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires pharmacies that ordinarily stock contraceptives to promptly fill in-stock requests or immediately arrange transfer/order and bans harassment or refusal when dispensing is lawful.
Introduced June 23, 2025 by Robin L. Kelly · Last progress June 23, 2025
Requires pharmacies that receive FDA-approved contraceptives in interstate commerce and that ordinarily stock those products to promptly provide in-stock contraceptives or, if not in stock, immediately offer to locate/transfer the prescription to a nearby confirmed-in-stock pharmacy or to order and notify the customer when it arrives. Prohibits pharmacy employees and environments from intimidating, harassing, obstructing, deceiving, breaching confidentiality, or refusing to return valid prescriptions in connection with requests for contraceptives, while preserving limited professional-clinical and payment-based exceptions. Also establishes findings on the public-health and civil-rights importance of contraceptive access and notes barriers (cost, geography, discrimination, language, immigration status) and recent regulatory changes expanding over-the-counter options. The bill adds these pharmacy duties to the Public Health Service Act, preserves stronger state protections, preserves employee rights under Title VII, and bars using the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a defense to avoid compliance; it does not appropriate funds.