Illinois stands at the cusp of taking an important step to ensure that women's health care choices cannot be interfered with.
The Reproductive Health and Access Act (HB 2354) passed out of committee on March 11 and will be hitting the Illinois General Assembly floor soon.
Of course, those who oppose women controlling their health care have been firing off their opposition to the bill. With that, we also see a lot of disingenuous arguments and misinformation aimed at scaring people away from an otherwise good piece of legislation.
Writing in the Chicago Sun Times Wednesday, Cardinal Francis George states:
Before the Illinois General Assembly there is a proposal (H.B. 2354, the Reproductive Health and Access Act) that would remove the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers. Thirty years ago, we were told that abortion is a rare but necessary tragedy and that abortion providers should not be legally punished. Today we are being told that abortion is a human right and that those who qualify it in any manner or who will not provide it should be legally punished.
To claim that the public is being told abortion is a human right and that those who refuse to perform abortions will be punished is just blatantly misleading.
The bill does not require health care professionals who oppose abortion to perform abortion procedures. The bill states that health care facilities should "accommodate" their employees who object to women's reproductive health procedures and for health care facilities to "assist the patient" in obtaining the health care they desire in a "timely fashion."
This bill is completely consistent with both ensuring women get good reproductive health care access and making sure health care professionals are not put in a situation that violates their religious or moral beliefs.
Furthermore, for opponents of the bill that dislike teaching sex education in public schools, this bill does not remove a parent's right to pull their kids from sex education classes whenever they want.
Lake Research Partners conducted a poll from November to December 2008 and found support for this bill stands at 60 percent or more among women under 50, African American voters and Latinos.
We, as Illinois voters, cannot be held hostage to the small minority who oppose women's right to choose based on fear mongering arguments of yesteryear. Voters are more sophisticated and understand that religiously-motivated legislation is inconsistent with the sentiment of most Illinoisans.
Ironically, Cardinal George calls HB 2354 supporters "enemies of religion." How dare he violate others' personal health care choices by attempting to make those views state law? That's immoral and unjust.
This is a good bill. Make sure you let your legislators know you support it. Click on the Illinois Reproductive Health website to make it happen.
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Jesus was Pro-salvation.