Widespread use of birth control continues to be a critical component of basic preventive health care for women and has been the driving force in reducing national rates of unintended pregnancies, STD infections, and abortions.

Since our nation's founding, the absence of a statement of equality for women under the Constitution has been an issue of significant debate. During the drafting of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John, "In the new code of laws, remember the ladies and do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands." More than two centuries later, a Constitutional guarantee of equal rights for women still doesn't exist.

As a working mother, Rep. Eshoo knows the struggle many Americans endure when balancing work with the needs of their families. That balance can be difficult and even impossible to maintain when one's own health, or that of a family member is compromised. Prior to the passage of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993 (P.L. 103-3), employees sometimes jeopardized their continued employment to take time away from work to deal with health-related matters.

Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor. Victims are young children, teenagers, men and women. According to the U.S. Department of State, approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide; between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are trafficked into the United States.

Many of today's working women are the primary or sole breadwinners for their families. Alarmingly, statistics continue to indicate that women in the workplace earn between 73 and 75 cents for every dollar earned by men. The gap is even greater for minority women. The wage gap is not just a woman's issue, but also a family issue. Rep. Eshoo believes that women deserve equal pay for equal work performed.

Until the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, abortions were illegal, but obtainable at high financial and personal costs, and often at great risk to a woman’s health. If a woman could afford an illegal abortion, it was generally unsafe and many abortions resulted in death or sterility. Before Roe, an estimated 100,000 illegal abortions were performed in California each year. Abortion was the single most common cause of maternal death in California prior to 1973. Today, women are entitled under the law to a safe abortion and they must comply with restrictions that have become part of some state laws since 1973.

The United States has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world: 34 percent of America’s young women become pregnant at least once before the age of 20; eight of ten teenage pregnancies are unintended. Although birth rates for U.S. teens have dropped in recent years, in 2004 more than ten percent of all U.S. births were to teenage mothers.

Passed in 1994 and then reauthorized in 2000, VAWA is landmark legislation that has improved criminal justice and community-based responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in the United States. VAWA programs target domestic violence, strengthen services for victims and their dependents, and hold offenders accountable. Still, the statistics remain alarming: nearly one in four women experiences one physical assault by a partner during adulthood. It is absolutely critical that Congress renew and expand the protections and programs that are so necessary to ending domestic violence.

In today’s health system, women are discriminated against in many ways. They often face higher health costs than men, as well as multiple barriers to health insurance. Fewer women are eligible for employer-based coverage and comprehensive coverage, and the individual insurance market can be prohibitively expensive. As a result, many women are underinsured or uninsured and simply can’t afford the services they need.