Please stand with the medical community in Illinois in support of the Reproductive Health and Access Act by signing this petition. 

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

The Reproductive Health and Access Act protects the critical role of physicians by ensuring that personal medical decisions about whether and when to become a parent are made by women with the counsel of their physicians, not by the government. The Act ensures that a woman has access to all the critical services and information she needs to make decisions about her pregnancy - including prenatal care, adoption, contraception, timely access to emergency contraception, pregnancy termination, and screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

The RHAA places decisions about care for the pregnant woman, and her decision about whether to become a parent, where they belong - in the hands of the woman, working with her physician. Importantly, the Act allows physicians or pharmacists who object to a course of treatment sought by a patient to exercise that objection, while ensuring the patient will receive the care he or she requires in an efficient and professional manner. This provides that when a physician writes a prescription for a patient under his or her care, the patient will be able to fill that prescription and receive the required medications in a timely and professional fashion.

Equally important, the RHA ensures comprehensive, age-appropriate sexual health education - as opposed to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which have been found in repeated studies to be ineffective in protecting the health and safety of young people.

We strongly urge passage of the Reproductive Health and Access Act to ensure the health of Illinoisans, and to protect important, personal decision-making about reproductive health, including whether and when to bear a child.

Signed by:

Campaign Launched:
March 18, 2009