Lilly Highlights Support of Reproductive Freedom and Women’s Health

CHICAGO – State Rep. Camille Y. Lilly, D-Chicago, is highlighting her support for reproductive freedom and women’s health following the enactment of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) in Illinois.

“Women across Illinois and across the United States deserve to have the same health care freedom and control over their bodies as men. For too long women, particularly women of color, have been targeted by a punitive system that punishes them for simply trying to access health care and exercise control over their own bodies,” Lilly said. “The Reproductive Health Act will put an end that punitive system in Illinois and serve as a model for how the United States should treat reproductive health and women’s health care.”

Lilly supported Senate Bill 25, known as the Reproductive Health Act, a comprehensive measure to establish an individual’s fundamental right to make decisions about reproductive health care free of government interference. The RHA establishes that individuals in Illinois have the right to make personal decisions about their reproductive health including the ability to choose or refuse birth control or sterilization, give birth, or to choose or refuse an abortion. The RHA also prohibits governments from punishing women for exercising their reproductive health rights, repeals statutes previously ruled unconstitutional by courts that sought to punish women for exercising reproductive freedom, and removes criminal penalties for doctors who provided reproductive health care, including abortions, to women.

“Throughout history, we have seen the results of draconian laws that seek to control women’s reproductive freedom. These laws result in severe physical and emotional harm to women, including death,” Lilly said. “In Illinois we are standing up for women and for health care access because we trust women to make the best decision for their health care needs and for their bodies.”