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What Does the Reproductive Health and Access Act Do?

The Illinois Reproductive Health and Access Act bars the government from interfering with anyone’s ability to use birth control, carry a pregnancy to term or terminate a pregnancy.

The bill requires all Illinois public schools to teach medically accurate, age appropriate, comprehensive sex education.  Parents would be allowed to remove their children from classes if they don't want them to participate.

The bill makes sure that government-funded health care programs, like Medicaid, cover basic reproductive health care services like family planning, pre-natal care, and pap tests as they do for other health care services.

Why is it important?

Women have the right to a continuum of choices throughout their reproductive lives -- from honest sex education to access to quality birth control, prenatal care, and the right to choose abortion. We need to ensure that a woman has as many responsible options as possible when it comes to making important personal decisions about her reproductive health care. This bill will guarantee everyone the ability to use or refuse contraception and will ensure 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 will ensure that the government cannot interfere with women’s personal decision-making based on their own personal values and their doctors’ advice.