HR0790 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0790 LRB102 27072 MST 38423 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade established a fundamental right to safe and legal reproductive health care free of excessive government restrictions; and

WHEREAS, The Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade established these personal medical decisions were to be made between patients and their doctors, not by politicians; and

WHEREAS, The right to privacy underpinning Roe v. Wade protects not only abortion rights but also many other rights we now regard as fundamental, including the ability to access birth control as established in the Supreme Court's 1970 Griswold v. Connecticut decision; and

WHEREAS, The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the principles of Roe v. Wade, with judges and legal scholars on all ends of the political spectrum speaking to the importance of the precedent; and

WHEREAS, These rulings guaranteeing access to reproductive health care have curtailed the practice of dangerous "back-alley" abortions, where patients were forced to put their lives on the line to receive care; and

WHEREAS, Extreme anti-choice activists and right-wing politicians have spent decades trying to bring back the dangerous era before Roe v. Wade by pushing new restrictions on abortion and birth control access; and

WHEREAS, The one-term presidency of Donald Trump has put these fundamental rights at risk like never before; as a candidate, Trump said that women seeking abortion should be punished, and then he worked to fill the federal judiciary with opponents of reproductive choice; and

WHEREAS, In response to this assault, the Illinois House of Representatives has worked to move Illinois in a fundamentally better direction by enshrining the right to choose as a fundamental right in Illinois, regardless of what extreme politicians in Washington, D.C. do; and

WHEREAS, A person's autonomy and ability to participate in the economic and social aspects of daily life are implicated by their ability to control their reproductive health; and

WHEREAS, Access to reproductive health care is often integral to the healing and recovery of survivors of sexual assault and abuse; and

WHEREAS, We continue to believe that personal medical decisions should be made between patients and their doctors, not by politicians; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare our belief that the Supreme Court's decisions in Roe v. Wade and Griswold v. Connecticut were properly decided, and we declare our opposition to any effort to overturn, undermine, or weaken the precedents; 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 Congressional Delegation in order to bring further awareness to the importance of women's health and reproductive rights for the residents of the State of Illinois and to be a model state for the rest of the country.