RESOLUTION EXPRESSING COMMITMENT TO PROTECTION OF REPRODUCTIVE
HEALTH CARE RIGHTS
WHEREAS, The ability for people to safely access and receive all reproductive healthcare, specifically abortion care and other healthcare services, is becoming increasingly threatened across the United States; and
WHEREAS, The right for people to make their own reproductive and sexual healthcare treatment decisions has been a constitutional right for nearly 50 years since the United States Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade; and
WHEREAS, On May 2, 2022, a leaked draft majority opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was circulated to the Supreme Court Justices that would overturn both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which would allow state legislatures - or even Congress - to adopt strict laws regulating bodily autonomy or prohibiting abortion without exception; and
WHEREAS, At least 23 different states have passed abortion bans prior to Roe or have passed "trigger laws," which would effectively ban abortions almost immediately after a decision from the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade; legislatures in several other states - including all states bordering Illinois - have indicated they will likely ban abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned. For many of these states, abortion is already a right in name only because medically unnecessary laws are already on their books; and
WHEREAS, Access to abortion is more than just an issue of bodily autonomy, but is also an issue of personal and economic freedom; restrictions on an individual's choice surrounding if and when to become a parent impacts their entire community - studies show that restrictions on reproductive healthcare can cost local economies up to $105 billion per year; and
WHEREAS, We are grateful to our colleagues in the Illinois General Assembly for doing the hard work to protect the fundamental right to abortion and access to all reproductive and sexual healthcare by repealing lll...
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