SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Graciela Guzmán’s legislation to preserve contraceptive services or supplies for minors was signed into law Friday.
“Everyone deserves the freedom to make decisions about their own body, their own health, and their own future,” said Guzmán (D-Chicago). “No young person should lose access to contraception because politicians decided they know better than patients and their health care providers. Illinois is protecting the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions and ensuring that access to contraception remains available for those who need it.”
The law ensures that minors can consent to contraceptive care without requiring permission from another person, protecting access to timely reproductive health care. According to KFF, several states require parental consent to obtain contraceptive care and many states do not guarantee the rights of minors to consent to contraceptive services.
Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of high quality, affordable sexual and reproductive health care for all people, as well as the nation’s largest provider of sex education.
"In recent years, we have seen a concerted effort to stigmatize birth control use and spread misinformation,” said Marissa Jackson-Donnell, senior manager of legislative affairs at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action. “As these attacks on reproductive health care continue on the national level, Illinois must do more to protect the bodies, lives and futures of our youth. Illinois can protect the current level of access in our state by removing antiquated language and explicitly affirming that the right to consent to care includes the right to consent to contraception."
Senate Bill 3341 goes into effect immediately.
