SR0321 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0321 LRB102 18648 MST 27023 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, On May 31, 2019, the 101st General Assembly passed the Reproductive Health Act, which established laws and policies that protect individual decision-making in the area of reproductive health, supports access to the full scope of quality reproductive health care for all in our State, and permits regulation of reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, and maternity care, only to the extent that such regulation is narrowly tailored to protect a compelling State interest; and

WHEREAS, Each individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about one's own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care, contraception, or sterilization and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right and the fundamental right of an individual who becomes pregnant to continue the pregnancy and give birth to a child or to have an abortion and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right; and

WHEREAS, The Reproductive Health Act repealed the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, the Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act, and the Abortion Performance Refusal Act; and

WHEREAS, The Governor approved of the Reproductive Health Act, and it became law on June 12, 2019; and

WHEREAS, On May 17, 2021, the United States Supreme Court granted the petition for writ of certiorari to Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on Question 1 that is whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional; and

WHEREAS, In the wake of this news, fundamental reproductive health rights and the United States constitutional right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey are in jeopardy; and

WHEREAS, In 2021, several states are banning fundamental reproductive health rights across the nation; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare our commitment to uphold the law and values embodied within the Reproductive Health Act; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the Governor, all Illinois constitutional officers, and all members of the Illinois General Assembly in order to bring further awareness to the importance of upholding fundamental reproductive health rights for our residents of the State of Illinois and to be a model state for the rest of our country.