Summary
- Most Americans support access to birth control.
- But Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY24) and 194 Republicans voted against the Right to Contraception Act.
- She said access to contraception is already safe, and there’s no need to make it a “right”.
- After overturning Roe v. Wade and repealing the right to abortion, the right to contraception looks endangered.
Fifty Years of “Settled Law” Overturned
For fifty years, Roe v. Wade guaranteed the right to abortion. Republicans insisted the matter was “settled law.” In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Abortion became illegal or tightly restricted in many Republican-controlled states, with several adopting six-week bans, before many women even know they are pregnant. The lesson was blunt. Personal rights could vanish overnight with a single court decision.
That is the backdrop for Rep. Claudia Tenney’s vote against H.R. 8373, the Right to Contraception Act, in July 2022. The bill would guarantee access to birth control. The text of the bill stated: “A person has a statutory right under this Act to obtain contraceptives and to engage in contraception, and a health care provider has a corresponding right to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information related to contraception.”
The House passed the Right to Contraception Act 228–195, with Tenney joining nearly every Republican in voting “NAY.” The bill died in the Senate (clerk.house.gov). It’s been introduced again this year (119th Congress) and is in committee.
“The right to contraception is safe… This is not an emergency.”
“The Right to Contraception Is Safe,” But Is It?
When asked why she opposed the bill, Tenney said: “The right to contraception is safe… This is not an emergency”(WWNY-TV). On the House floor, she went further, calling it “an imagined and fake emergency” meant to “distract and scare the American people and score cheap political points.”
But that was the same assurance Americans heard about Roe. During their Senate confirmations, conservative justices described Roe as “settled law” or “precedent.” Brett Kavanaugh told Sen. Susan Collins that Roe was “settled law” and “precedent on precedent.” Neil Gorsuch said Roe was “a precedent of the United States Supreme Court” that had been “reaffirmed.” Amy Coney Barrett acknowledged it as precedent, though she said it was not a “super precedent.”
Each of them later voted to overturn Roe.
Roe v. Wade is settled law. It’s precedent on precedent.”
Justice Clarence Thomas went even further than just his vote to overturn Roe. In the Dobbs decision, he urged the Court to revisit Griswold v. Connecticut. That was the 1965 landmark case that established the right to contraception. Thomas wrote, “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”
If Roe – the right to abortion – could be overturned, why couldn’t Griswold – the right to contraception – be overturned?
At the same time abortion rights were repealed and the right to contraception was being questioned, Republicans began talking about birth rates. Vice President J.D. Vance called declining birth rates a “civilizational crisis.” In 2021, he claimed that the U.S. is “effectively run…by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.” He also said, “We have to go to war” against the idea that women can decide not to have children.
With abortion rights gone, contraception is the next target.
Opposed to Women’s Choice
Tenney’s vote against the contraception act, combined with the Supreme Court’s repeal of abortion rights and Republican calls for women to have more children, reflects a pattern. Limit women’s choices. Abortion was the first target. Contraception is now in question. Even where Republicans say they will not ban birth control, they resist guaranteeing the right to contraception.
Suffragettes and the Comstock Act
The current discussion is a repeat of the political landscape 150 years ago. Contraception became a legal battleground in the late 1800s. The Comstock Act of 1873 banned mailing “obscene” materials, including contraceptives and information about them.
Women’s rights activists challenged these restrictions. Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn in 1916 and was arrested and jailed. Emma Goldman, a leading suffragette and labor activist, was arrested for giving lectures and distributing pamphlets on birth control. (So much for free speech.)
Emma Goldman (left) and Margaret Sanger (right) went to prison for violating the Comstock laws, which criminalized birth control and sex education.
More than a century later, the same Comstock Act is cited by anti-abortion groups in lawsuits (Hobby Lobby) as a way to restrict the distribution of medications like mefispristone and some forms of contraception (KFF).
What Were the Comstock Laws?
Criminal laws that banned mailing or distributing contraception and even basic sex education.
In 1873, Congress passed the Comstock Act. It treated contraception, information about birth control, and sexual health materials as “obscene.” Many states added their own “little Comstock” laws that criminalized selling, advertising, or teaching about contraception. Violations carried fines and jail time.
Activists Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger defied these bans. Goldman was arrested for lecturing on birth control. Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn in 1916 and was jailed for providing contraceptives and information.
Courts began to roll back these restrictions in the mid-20th century. In 1965, Griswold v. Connecticut recognized a constitutional right to contraception for married couples. In 1972, Eisenstadt v. Baird extended that right to unmarried adults.
Targeting Oral Contraception
Some Republicans have attacked specific methods of contraception. Intrauterine devices (IUDs) and emergency contraception like Plan B have both been labeled “abortifacients” – any drug or device that induces an abortion by ending an established pregnancy after a fertilized egg has implanted in the uterus.
That claim is not supported by medical evidence, but it has been used in lawsuits such as the Hobby Lobby case. Medical consensus from the Food and Drug Administration, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the World Health Organization is that Plan B and IUDs work before pregnancy. They prevent ovulation or fertilization. They do not end an implanted pregnancy.
Tenney’s District vs. Public Opinion
Tenney represents New York’s 24th Congressional District, which runs along the Lake Ontario shoreline and reaches into Central New York. It’s the most Republican-leaning district in the state, rated R+12 by Cook. Representing a safe Republican district may explain her vote against the Right to Contraception Act and her assurance that “the right to contraception is safe”.
But Tenney’s position is at odds with public opinion. Nationally, 81% of Americans support legislation protecting access to birth control, including 75% of Republicans. In New York State, voters overwhelmingly back reproductive rights, as shown by the November 2024 passage of Proposal 1. That was an amendment to the state constitution protecting reproductive rights. 62% of the voters supported Prop. 1, including in many traditionally Republican counties within Tenney’s own district. Tenney’s vote against the Right to Contraception Act runs contrary to the views of most of her constituents.
Why Trust Them?
Republicans say they do not oppose contraception. Senator Josh Hawley said in 2022, “No Republican is talking about banning contraception. That is not happening” (Reuters). Tenney said much the same thing. She insists access to contraception is safe and not under threat.
But Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion were “settled law” until it wasn’t. Republicans promise that the right to contraception is safe, but they voted against a bill guaranteeing the right to contraception. They say women must have more children. They’re attacking specific birth control methods. This doesn’t add up.
Given the opportunity, is there any doubt that Republicans will move to limit or even criminalize contraception?
References
House vote on Right to Contraception Act (H.R. 8373, 117th Congress): clerk.house.gov
Bill text and language: congress.gov
Tenney’s statement: WWNY-TV
Justices’ statements on Roe as precedent: Senate hearing transcripts reported widely (Collins on Kavanaugh; Barrett on “super precedent”)
Clarence Thomas concurrence in Dobbs: [Supreme Court opinion, 2022]
J.D. Vance on birth rates: NYT
Suffragette arrests: National Archives; Planned Parenthood history
Comstock Act implications today: KFF
Hobby Lobby contraception case: [SCOTUS 2014]
Josh Hawley reassurance: Reuters
District partisan lean: Cook PVI
Contact Your Western New York Representatives
Nick Langworthy (R- NY23)
Clarence: 8201 Main St, Suite 13, Williamsville, NY 14221 | (716) 547-6844
Jamestown: 2-6 E Second St, Room 208, Jamestown, NY 14701 | (716) 488-8111
Olean: 1 Bluebird Square, Olean, NY 14760 | (585) 543-5033
Corning: 89 W. Market Street, Corning, NY 14830 | (607) 377-3130
Website: https://langworthy.house.gov
Claudia Tenney (R- NY24)
Lockport: 169 Niagara Street, Lockport, NY 14094 | (716) 514-5130
Canandaigua: 2375 Rochester Rd, Suite 250, Canandaigua, NY 14424 | (585) 869-2060
Oswego: 46 E Bridge Street, Suite 102, Oswego, NY 13126 | (315) 236-7088
Watertown: 317 Washington Street, Suite 418, Watertown, NY 13601
Website: https://tenney.house.gov
Joseph Morelle (R-NY25)
Rochester: 255 East Avenue, Suite 150, Rochester, NY 14604 | (585) 232-4850
Website: https://morelle.house.gov
Tim Kennedy (R-NY26)
Buffalo: 726 Exchange Street, Suite 601, Buffalo, NY 14210 | (716) 852-3501
Niagara Falls: 800 Main Street, Suite 3C, Niagara Falls, NY 14301 | (716) 282-1274
Website: https://kennedy.house.gov
