What is the Reproductive Health & Access Act?
The Reproductive Health and Access Act (RHAA) is legislation that gives women in Illinois a continuum of information and choices throughout their reproductive lives including, responsible sexual health education, access to quality birth control, the ability to access prenatal care, and the right to choose an abortion. This is a bill about comprehensive reproductive health care for women.
The bill requires all Illinois public schools to teach medically accurate, age appropriate, comprehensive sexual health education so that young women and men can make responsible decisions. Parents retain the right to remove their children from classes if they do not want them to participate.
RHAA makes sure that government-funded health care programs, like Medicaid, cover basic reproductive health care services like family planning, prenatal care, and pap tests as they do for other health care services.
In response to questions that were raised in the 2009 legislative session, RHAA has been revised by sponsors and supporters. The revised version focuses more directly on providing access to and education about reproductive health care.
Why Do We Need the Reproductive Health & Access Act in Illinois?
Women have the right to a continuum of choices throughout their reproductive lives — from honest sexual health education to access to quality birth control, prenatal care, and the right to choose abortion.
We need to ensure that a woman has information about and access to as many responsible options as possible when it comes to making important personal decisions about her reproductive health care.
This bill guarantees everyone the ability to use or refuse contraception and ensures that every woman is able to make her own personal decisions about when and whether to have a child and to control her own reproductive health without interference.
It ensures that the government cannot interfere with women’s personal decision-making based on their own values and their doctors’ advice.
