H.Con.Res. 65

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 65 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 65

Commending State and local governments for championing reproductive 
rights as human rights.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 10, 2025

Ms. Williams of Georgia (for herself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Carter of 
Louisiana, Mr. Casar, Ms. McClellan, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. 
Chu, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Simon, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Wilson of 
Florida, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Casten, 
Ms. Sewell, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Huffman, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Carson, Mr. Garamendi, 
Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Peters, Ms. 
Schakowsky, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Stansbury, Mrs. McIver, Ms. Salinas, Ms. 
McCollum, Mr. Kennedy of New York, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. 
Vargas, Ms. Norton, Mr. Soto, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Garcia of 
Illinois, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Titus, Ms. Dean 
of Pennsylvania, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. Pocan, Mr. 
Khanna, Mr. Cisneros, Mrs. Foushee, Mr. Bell, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. 
Craig, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Garcia of California, Ms. Budzinski, Mrs. 
McClain Delaney, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. Ansari, Mrs. Cherfilus-
McCormick, Ms. Pettersen, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Latimer, Mrs. Watson 
Coleman, Ms. Omar, Ms. Brown, Mr. Takano, Mr. Morelle, Ms. Strickland, 
Ms. McBride, Mrs. Beatty, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Randall, Mr. 
Magaziner, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Frost, Ms. DeGette, Ms. 
Jayapal, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Gottheimer, Mrs. 
Trahan, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Mullin, Mrs. Fletcher, Ms. 
Morrison, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Balint, Mr. Tonko, 
Mr. Menendez, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Ross, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Thompson of 
California, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Dexter, Mr. Horsford, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. 
Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Cleaver, Mrs. McBath, Mr. Bera, Mr. Walkinshaw, Mr. 
Davis of Illinois, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Olszewski, and Ms. Leger 
Fernandez) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Commending State and local governments for championing reproductive 
rights as human rights.

Whereas, on June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson 
Women's Health Organization, (597 U.S. 215 (2022)) overturned Roe v. 
Wade, (410 U.S. 113 (1973)) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, (505 U.S. 
833 (1992)), and eliminated the Federal constitutional right to abortion 
in the United States;
Whereas, subsequently, more than a dozen States have passed legal barriers that 
fully ban abortion, and many others have passed legal barriers that 
severely restrict abortion, making abortion inaccessible in half of all 
States in the United States;
Whereas the retrogression on abortion rights in the United States is 
inconsistent with the United States obligations under international 
human rights law;
Whereas treaties ratified by the United States should be upheld at the Federal, 
State, and local levels as they are considered the ``supreme Law of the 
Land'' under clause 2 of article VI of the United States Constitution;
Whereas the United States has ratified, and is bound by, the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, done on June 1, 1992, the 
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial 
Discrimination, done on September 29, 1994, and the Convention against 
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 
done on September 19, 1994;
Whereas the United States has previously joined the international community in 
identifying reproductive rights as human rights, including during the 
1995 Beijing World Conference on Women;
Whereas escalating restrictions on abortion access in the United States conflict 
with public health guidance;
Whereas the abortion care guideline, published by the World Health Organization 
in 2022, recommends the full decriminalization of abortion, the removal 
of grounds-based restrictions on abortion, and the removal of 
gestational age limits on the provision of abortion care;
Whereas access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health care, 
including abortion, is essential to the health and well-being of all 
people;
Whereas no one should be criminalized for any pregnancy, circumstances 
surrounding their pregnancy, or pregnancy outcome;
Whereas punishing pregnant people for their pregnancy outcomes and the 
circumstances of their pregnancies or for accessing essential 
reproductive and sexual health care violates their human rights;
Whereas the threat of criminalization or prosecution can intimidate people from 
seeking or providing care;
Whereas reproductive and sexual health care providers administer high-quality, 
essential health care, and play a critical role in ensuring people can 
make decisions about their bodies and lives with dignity;
Whereas no one should be criminalized for providing essential health care;
Whereas pregnant people who have been denied abortion care suffer many adverse 
consequences, including putting their health, fertility, and lives at 
risk, being forced to carry pregnancies against their will and even 
nonviable pregnancies to term, and being criminalized for miscarriage, 
the circumstances of their pregnancies, abortions, and other pregnancy 
outcomes;
Whereas pregnant people in Texas and other Southern States have been forced to 
undergo invasive and dangerous surgeries, such as cesarean sections, 
instead of receiving routine abortion care when faced with obstetric 
emergencies, putting their health and lives at risk;
Whereas such legally compelled interventions are obstetric violence, a form of 
gender-based violence which has long affected communities of color and 
especially Black communities, as early American gynecology treated Black 
women as expendable clinical material for its institutional needs, and 
this medical violence was animated by biological racism and the legal 
and economic exigencies of the antebellum era;
Whereas all levels of government are obligated to prevent rather than empower 
discrimination and violence at the hands of the state;
Whereas confusion and fear among health care providers on what is allowable 
under emergency medical exceptions has led to delays and denials of 
necessary lifesaving care, increasing health risks and preventable 
maternal deaths;
Whereas research has shown an 8-percent increase in pregnancy-associated 
mortality, with the highest impact being felt amongst Black women, who 
already face a higher rate of baseline mortality;
Whereas pregnant people in States that ban abortion, like Texas and Louisiana, 
are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth;
Whereas, in Texas, after the State's ban went into effect, hospitals experienced 
a 50-percent increase in sepsis rates during second-trimester 
hospitalizations;
Whereas, in 2024, over 155,000 patients were forced to travel out of State to 
seek abortion care, and between 2020 and the first half of 2023, the 
number of people traveling out of State for care jumped from 1 in 10 to 
1 in 5;
Whereas, because large swaths of the country have restrictive policies, 
thousands of people have had to travel hundreds of miles to access care;
Whereas millions more cannot and will not be able to travel to access abortion 
care because of financial and travel-related barriers, their immigration 
status and risk of deportation, or because they are incarcerated or on 
probation or parole;
Whereas young persons under 18 face additional and often insurmountable barriers 
to accessing abortion, such as abortion bans, laws that force them to 
notify or seek consent of a guardian even when that might pose a threat 
to their safety, and laws that criminalize adults who help them leave 
these State for an abortion;
Whereas these barriers force countless young persons under 18 into unwanted 
pregnancies or unsafe situations, particularly those from abusive or 
unsupportive families, harms that are compounded for LGBTQIA+ youth, 
young people of color, and those without financial or travel resources;
Whereas Indigenous people, Black people, people of color, people with low 
incomes, people living in rural areas, people with disabilities, 
immigrants, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and other marginalized individuals are 
disproportionately likely to be surveilled, arrested, charged, 
prosecuted, convicted, and heavily punished within the United States 
criminal justice system and, due to systemic discrimination, to 
experience additional scrutiny from the United States legal system;
Whereas, from 2006 to 2022, almost 1,400 people were arrested in the United 
States in relation to the circumstances or outcomes of their pregnancy, 
including pregnancy loss, and prosecutions overwhelmingly targeted 
people with low incomes, and this trend has only increased since the 
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision;
Whereas, in the first 2 years since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health 
Organization decision, State prosecutors have initiated at least 412 
cases charging pregnant people with crimes related to pregnancy, 
pregnancy loss, or birth, and more than three-quarters of the people 
charged were low-income individuals, and in 264 of these cases, 
information supporting criminal prosecution was obtained or disclosed in 
a medical setting;
Whereas many pregnant people experiencing miscarriage have been forced to wait 
until they are septic before receiving treatment or denied treatment 
altogether, even when the pregnancy is no longer viable;
Whereas life-threatening conditions, such as preterm premature rupture of 
membranes (PPROM), should permit lawful emergency care under the 
Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and under lawful 
exceptions within State abortion bans, but in practice these exceptions 
are not always implemented, thereby threatening people's health and 
lives;
Whereas a climate of fear has also deterred providers from giving clear 
information about pregnancy options, and even from providing prenatal 
care early in pregnancy when the risk of miscarriage can be high, 
further undermining patients' rights to informed consent and safe, 
necessary medical care;
Whereas the chilling effect of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization 
decision has resulted in at least 34 clinics closing in States where 
abortion remains legal since 2024;
Whereas such restrictive policies have forced high-risk pregnancy specialists to 
flee antiabortion States, including the State of Idaho which saw a 
decrease in high-risk pregnancy specialists of over 40 percent in the 
wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision;
Whereas, alongside abortion restrictions, attacks on LGBTQIA+ health care 
access, including gender-affirming care, have increased, impacting 
marginalized groups;
Whereas, during this Congress, the Federal Government passed a spending bill 
which cut $1 trillion from critical health programs, effectively 
upending the entire system while making it even harder for an estimated 
10 million people who will lose their health insurance coverage, while 
also defunding Planned Parenthood by removing access to essential 
Medicaid funds;
Whereas the United States has been reviewed by two United Nations treaty-
monitoring bodies since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization 
decision, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and 
the Human Rights Committee;
Whereas, on August 11 and 12, 2022, the United Nations Committee on the 
Elimination of Racial Discrimination reviewed the United States 
implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All 
Forms of Racial Discrimination and, on August 30, 2022, issued 
recommendations to the United States Government to address the profound 
disparate impact of the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson 
Women's Health Organization on women of racial and ethnic minorities, 
Indigenous women, and those with low incomes;
Whereas, on October 17 and 18, 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Committee 
reviewed the United States implementation of the International Covenant 
on Civil and Political Rights and, on November 3, 2023, issued 
concluding observations to the United States Government expressing deep 
concern over the criminalization of abortion seekers, those who help 
them, and abortion providers; restrictions on interstate travel that 
inhibit access to care; bans on medication abortion; the use of digital 
data surrounding abortion for prosecution purposes; and the profound 
impact on the human rights of women and girls seeking an abortion, and 
in particular, the disproportionate impact on women and girls with low 
incomes and from vulnerable groups, those living in rural areas, and 
those belonging to racial and ethnic minorities;
Whereas State and local governments play an important role in ensuring that the 
United States complies with its treaty obligations;
Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Committee recommended on November 3, 
2023, that State and local lawmakers uphold human rights in their 
lawmaking and to take specific action to ensure that no one is 
criminalized for a pregnancy outcome, nor anyone who provides abortion 
care or helps someone obtain an abortion, and that all people can access 
abortion care when they need it;
Whereas, despite the United States Government supporting 13 recommendations 
relating to sexual and reproductive health in its prior Universal Period 
Review cycle in 2021, the United States has facilitated an increasingly 
hostile legal, policy, and practice landscape around abortion and 
reproductive health care, to a deeply harmful effect;
Whereas, on August 27, 2025, in an attempt to evade accountability for grave, 
ongoing human rights violations in the country, the United States 
Department of State sent a letter to the Office of the High Commissioner 
on Human Rights stating that the Trump administration will not 
participate in its upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a United 
Nations process through which countries review each other's human rights 
records;
Whereas, on November 7, 2025, following receipt of such letter, the United 
Nations Human Rights Council adopted a decision in which it called on 
the United States to resume its cooperation with the UPR and postponed 
the UPR to November 2026, while leaving open the possibility for the UPR 
to be scheduled sooner;
Whereas every United Nations member country participates in the UPR process, 
and, to date, only two other countries, Israel and Nicaragua, have ever 
attempted to evade review, and no country has ever fully done so;
Whereas this proposition to boycott the United States UPR presents a dangerous 
precedent at the United Nations and for global accountability mechanisms 
more broadly;
Whereas rather than avoiding accountability for the erosion and attacks on human 
rights, all levels of government should be working to respect, protect, 
and ensure human rights;
Whereas, on October 21, 2025, the Town Council of Carrboro, North Carolina, 
unanimously passed a resolution declaring December 10 as ``Human Rights 
Day'' and unanimously resolved to advocate for Women's Health and 
Comprehensive Reproductive Rights as a human right, affirmed that all 
people deserve access to high-quality health care without fear of 
government interference or punishment, affirmed that North Carolina has 
an obligation to implement and protect human rights, and aligns itself 
with its human rights obligations under the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial 
Discrimination, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, 
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in accordance with clause 
2 of article VI of the United States Constitution;
Whereas, on November 4, 2025, the city of Mount Rainier, Maryland, issued a 
mayoral proclamation declaring December 10 as ``Human Rights Day'' and 
aligning the city government with its human rights obligations under the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the city will pass a 
resolution declaring the same in December 2025;
Whereas, on November 13, 2025, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, enacted a 
resolution declaring December 10 as ``Human Rights Day'' and elevating 
the Nation's human rights obligations under the treaties it has 
ratified, in accordance with clause 2 of article VI of the United States 
Constitution, as well as recognizing that these human rights obligations 
require access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care 
services, including abortion care, and uplifting the numerous human 
rights violations across the Nation in States that deny this essential 
care, including the criminalization of pregnancy outcomes, and the 
exacerbation of severe maternal morbidity and the racial disparities 
present therein;
Whereas, on December 3, 2025, Fulton County, Georgia, considered the adoption of 
a resolution that affirms that reproductive rights are human rights, 
condemns the criminalization of abortion and related services, urges the 
Georgia General Assembly to repeal the State's six-week abortion ban, 
and recognizes that treaties ratified by the United States should be 
upheld at the Federal, State, and local level as they are considered the 
``supreme Law of the Land'' under clause 2 of article VI of the United 
States Constitution;
Whereas, on December 3, 2025, Fulton County, Georgia, presented a proclamation 
declaring December 10, 2025, as ``Human Rights Day'' and affirming that 
human rights are universal and that every level of government must 
ensure that these rights are upheld in law, policy, and practice;
Whereas, on December 4, 2025, the city of Austin, Texas issued a mayoral 
proclamation declaring December 10 as ``Human Rights Day'' and aligning 
itself with its human rights obligations under the Universal Declaration 
of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Racial Discrimination, and the Convention against Torture and Other 
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in accordance with 
clause 2 of article VI of the United States Constitution, as well as 
elevating the egregious human rights violations occurring in Texas each 
day, including the mass and illegal detention and deportation scheme 
that suspends the human rights of migrants, the systemic injustices of 
the criminal legal system, the expansion of the ``terrorism'' framework 
and vast surveillance infrastructure used to repress expression, the 
regression on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, and the 
criminalization of homelessness and poverty;
Whereas, on December 4, 2025, the city of Baltimore passed a resolution 
recognizing December 10 as ``Human Rights Day'', reaffirming the City 
Council's commitment to aligning its policy with the human rights 
obligations of international law and calling on all city agencies, 
organizations, and residents to reaffirm their commitment to the 
fundamental rights and intrinsic worth of all human beings, and 
reaffirming its commitment to protecting its citizens' reproductive 
rights and committing to supporting measures to ensure access to 
abortion, family planning, labor and delivery care, miscarriage 
management, pre- and post-natal care, and all other reproductive health 
services regardless of background;
Whereas, on September 11 and 12, 2024, the city councils of Chapel Hill and 
Carrboro, North Carolina, introduced and passed resolutions declaring 
reproductive rights and abortion as human rights, and explicitly 
condemning the chill felt in North Carolina from neighboring States that 
ban abortion and the criminalization of anyone for a pregnancy outcome 
or for any circumstance surrounding their pregnancy;
Whereas, on June 28, 2022, the city of Alexandria, Virginia, enacted a 
resolution to expand access to abortion in the wake of the Dobbs v. 
Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, and the city council held 
a status update meeting to address areas for improvement on June 25, 
2024, just after the 2-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's 
Health Organization ruling;
Whereas Louisiana House bills 56, 63, 164, and 293 were introduced in February 
2024 and sought to increase access to reproductive health care, and 
committee testimony regarding the bills illustrated the human rights 
concerns and obligations that necessitated the passage of these bills;
Whereas Mount Rainier, Maryland, issued a mayoral proclamation declaring June 
24, 2024, as ``Reproductive Rights are Human Rights Day'', a first-of-
its-kind effort on a local level to protect reproductive freedom as a 
human right, and passed a resolution declaring the same on October 1, 
2024;
Whereas Montgomery County, Maryland, passed a resolution to address the Dobbs v. 
Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in 2022 and passed a 
resolution with unanimous support on September 10, 2024, to increase 
access to abortion in the country and to explicitly condemn the 
criminalization of anyone for a pregnancy outcome or the criminalization 
of anyone for a circumstance surrounding their pregnancy;
Whereas the city of Baltimore, Maryland, passed a resolution on September 30, 
2024, affirming Baltimore's commitment to reproductive rights and 
support for the Maryland constitutional amendment to ensure access to 
abortion, family planning, labor and delivery care, miscarriage 
management, prenatal and postnatal care, and all other reproductive 
health services regardless of background;
Whereas Governor Wes Moore signed a proclamation enshrining in law the 
fundamental right to reproductive freedom into the Maryland State 
constitution on January 17, 2025;
Whereas the City Council of Austin, Texas, has invested over $400,000 in support 
of abortion access to help low-income people overcome the myriad 
barriers they face seeking abortion care, and passed a resolution on 
August 29, 2024, declaring abortion as a human right, acknowledging the 
duties of the Texas government at the local and State levels to uphold 
its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil 
and Political Rights, and explicitly condemning the criminalization of 
anyone for a pregnancy outcome or the criminalization of anyone for a 
circumstance surrounding their pregnancy;
Whereas the Carrboro, North Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland; Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania; and Fulton County, Georgia resolutions referred to in this 
preamble, as well as the Austin, Texas, and Mount Rainer, Maryland, 
proclamations declaring December 10 as ``Human Rights Day'' reflect 
State and local efforts to address recommendations made by the United 
Nations Human Rights Committee on maternal mortality, voluntary 
termination of pregnancy, and sexual and reproductive rights, and to 
promote and protect human rights; and
Whereas Louisiana House bills 56, 63, 164, and 293, the city of Mount Rainier, 
Maryland, proclamation and resolution making June 24, 2024, 
``Reproductive Rights are Human Rights Day'', and resolutions for 
Austin, Texas, Montgomery County, Maryland, Alexandria, Virginia, 
Baltimore, Maryland, and Chapel Hill and Carrboro, North Carolina, 
reflect State and local efforts to address recommendations made by the 
United Nations Human Rights Committee on maternal mortality, voluntary 
termination of pregnancy, and sexual and reproductive rights, and to 
promote and protect human rights: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--
(1) recognizes the important role that State and local 
governments should play to ensure that the United States 
complies with its treaty obligations;
(2) condemns the criminalization of abortion and the 
criminalization of any circumstances or outcomes of a person's 
pregnancy in the United States;
(3) affirms that all people deserve access to high-quality 
health care without fear of punishment;
(4) affirms that reproductive rights are human rights;
(5) urges the governments of States that impose 
restrictions harmful to pregnant people to repeal those 
restrictions; and
(6) urges the governments of States--
(A) to repeal State laws that criminalize abortion;
(B) to prohibit the prosecution of people for 
having abortions or for any other circumstances or 
outcomes of their pregnancies; and
(C) to protect and guarantee human rights.
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