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S 333 113th Congress Senate Health Civil actions and liability Family planning and birth control Health care coverage and access Health technology, devices, supplies

Access to Birth Control Act

Introduced: February 14, 2013 See on congress.gov
This bill died when the 113th Congress ended
It never became law before the 113th Congress (2013–2014) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 14, 2013
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Feb 14, 2013
Introduced in Senate
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 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Access to Birth Control Act - 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 expediting the ordering of the contraceptive and notifying the customer when it arrives, based on customer preference, except for pharmacies that do not ordinarily stock contraceptives in the normal course of business; 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 or obstructing the delivery of services, intentionally misrepresenting or deceiving customers about the availability of contraception or its mechanism of action, breaching or threatening to breach medical confidentiality, or refusing to return a valid, lawful prescription.

Provides that a pharmacy is not prohibited from refusing to provide a contraceptive to a customer if: (1) it is unlawful to dispense the contraceptive to the customer without a valid, lawful prescription and no such prescription is presented; (2) the customer is unable to pay for the contraceptive; or (3) the employee of the pharmacy refuses to provide the contraceptive on the basis of a professional clinical judgment.

Provides that this Act does not preempt state law or any professional obligation of a state board that provides greater protections for customers.

Sets forth civil penalties and establishes a a private cause of action for violations of this Act.

What's happening now February 14, 2013

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

 Related & companion bills 2
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 333: Access to Birth Control Act. 113th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/113-S-333/
MLA
"S. 333: Access to Birth Control Act." 113th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/113-S-333/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 333, 113th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/113-S-333/.
Markdown link
[S. 333: Access to Birth Control Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/113-S-333/)
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