Call your representatives in the Illinois House TODAY and urge them to vote NO on House Amendment 1 to SB827. House Amendment 1 to SB827 would allow any entity that calls itself a religious organization to opt out of insurance coverage of contraceptives. As written, it is a broad definition as to what constitutes a religious entity.
Last year the Illinois General Assembly passed HB211 which states that employee insurance must include contraceptive coverage. Religious groups already have protection under the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscious Act which allows them to opt out of such coverage if goes against their religious beliefs.
However, Amendment 1 would allow any insurance provider, whether they are a religion-based insurer or not, to exclude contraceptive insurance coverage to the employees of any company that calls itself a religious group. There are already four religion-based insurance companies that religious groups can use and the right of conscious clause would be in effect.
This bill was put forward by the Illinois Catholic Conference because they want to be sure that one of their providers, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, is exempt from contraceptive coverage law, instead of using one of the 4 religion-based insurers. It is also being pushed by an anti-choice lobbyist for the Illinois Department of Insurance, who has been assisting the Catholic Conference with this amendment.
We cannot allow religious groups to dictate a woman's insurance coverage!
CALL the Capitol switchboard at 217/782-2000 and ask for your state representative. There were 4 Democratic reps who indicated that they would vote NO on the amendment in Committee but voted YES. The amendment passed out of the House Insurance Committee with only 1 NO vote (Thanks to the courage of Representative Karen Yarbrough)
ALL of the reps need to hear from us. CALL TODAY!
Thanks and have a good week!
Susan Bramlet-Lavin
Executive Director
IL NOW
Below are links to the summaries of bills that are moving their way through the Illinois House or Senate that have special importance to women's reproductive rights and health as well as civil liberties. Call or email Governor Blagojevich and urge him to support the following bills:
Bush and TITLE IX Newly proposed regulations on single sex education by Bush's US Department
of Education would severely weaken Title IX's prohibition on discrimination
in federally funded education and drastically reduce opportunities for
girls and women in academic education. This is the same Education
Department that tried to weaken the athletic provisions of Title IX last
year. Women's rights supporters stopped that maneuver to gut Title IX, and
we must do it again.
Please contact the Department of Education and the White House and let them
know that you want them to leave Title IX alone.
http://capwiz.com/fmf1/issues/alert/?alertid=5609501&type;=ML
Title IX is the reason women and girls have been given access to equal
educational resources. Prior to Title IX, women and girls were routinely
offered less resources, classes, challenges, and opportunities than male
students.
We know if we make our opposition vocal we will win! In 2003 the
Department of Education tried to cut back on women's opportunities in high
school and college sports. The Department received tens of thousands of
emails, letters, and phone calls in opposition to its plan, and the
DEPARTMENT BACKED DOWN. We must unite and save Title IX again!
