By: Sarah Johnson
A lot of people have been interested in Illinois’s SB1942 and HB2495 recently, so we wanted to take a quick closer look at what they say and then take a peek at some other similar bills across the country. Both bills were introduced in February, 2019 and as of early June neither have made it out of committee for a floor vote yet.
The Illinois Reproductive Health Act (RHA) “sets forth the fundamental rights of individuals to make autonomous decisions about one’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.” Additionally, the bill states “a fertilized egg, embryo or fetus does not have independent rights”. In plain English, this bill states abortion is a fundamental right for the women of the state of Illinois.
The current Illinois abortion law was passed in 1975 after the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade to “reasonably regulate” abortion procedures while adhering to their decision. Amongst other things, current Illinois abortion law: prohibits abortions if a fetus can survive outside the womb (with a preservation of the mother’s life exemption), requires spousal consent and mandatory waiting periods, lays out criminal penalties for physicians who perform abortions, and places restrictions on facilities where abortions are performed.
This new legislation prohibits the state from interfering in a woman’s reproductive health care decision-making, no matter if they choose to carry a pregnancy to term or choose to have an abortion. The bill also creates an avenue for women to sue if they feel this right was violated. Along with stating abortion is a fundamental right, the legislation adds access to diagnostic testing, contraception, pregnancy benefits and related health care to this fundamental right. The second major aspect of this bill is it requires private health insurance companies which operate within Illinois and provide pregnancy coverage to cover abortion procedures without “any restrictions or delays on the coverage.”
There are two other interesting aspects to this bill. First, health care professionals will be required to file a report with the Department of Public Health about each abortion they perform; the type of information to be collected is laid out in the bill. The bill states these reports are exempted from any Freedom of Information requests, although personally identifiable information is not to be collected or reported. Second, the bill allows local governments to implement ordinances strengthening reproductive health care, but prohibits anything weakening access to procedures like abortion.
Opponents to the bill site a few main concerns: the bill repeals sections which give legal protections for health care workers and providers who refuse to take part in or perform abortion procedures, it states “health care professionals” can perform abortions (as opposed to only doctors), it requires health insurance companies to participate in covering (funding) abortions and does not allow them to opt out, and finally, some interpret the lack of language relating to limitations as allowing abortion up until birth for any reason.
Here is a widget showing other Reproductive Health Acts from around the country:
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