Candidate Answers: Reproductive Rights

Access to reproductive health care in Illinois has become more critical than ever, as threats increase at the federal level and states throughout the Midwest pass increasingly harmful restrictions.

Will you commit to using the power of your office to protect and expand access to the full range of reproductive health care and information, including contraception and abortion, for all people in Illinois? If so, how? If not, why?

ERIKA HAROLD:

DID NOT RESPOND.

BUBBA HARSY:

All people in Illinois should have access to the full range of reproductive health care and information, including contraception and abortion. Individuals know how to run their lives better than the government, and as such, they should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies.

Any laws preventing someone access to reproductive health care and information will have their legality challenged by my office and in all likelihood be struck down by a court.

KWAME RAOUL:

For my entire career, I have supported safe, legal access to abortion and contraception. I firmly believe a woman should be trusted to make her own personal decisions about her health and family. As the father of a college-aged daughter, I would never want the government dictating to her the decisions she can make about her own health.

I co-sponsored the state law that ensures women are given information about how to access health care even when their providers have moral objections to furnishing the treatment they choose. I also supported comprehensive, medically-informed sex education in schools.

I was proud to cast a vote for House Bill 40, the law that expands access to reproductive healthcare and protects a woman’s access to safe and legal abortion in Illinois if Roe v. Wade is overturned. With the Supreme Court’s balance threatened by a Trump appointee and Roe v. Wade in grave danger, I can assure Illinoisans that I am willing to go to court to protect Illinois’ abortion access laws against all challenges. I will always defend a woman’s right to choose and access to the full spectrum of healthcare options.