Reproductive Rights
This page was created to provide information regarding reproductive rights laws in Illinois and resources to our constituents, fellow Illinoisans and any individual who seeks out reproductive care in Illinois. To be clear, the right to an abortion still stands in Illinois, but we want to be prepared and have a place to communicate any changes at the federal level and share resources for those out of state whose access to reproductive care is limited. We will continuously keep this page updated as new information becomes available. If you have any information or resources you would like to share with us and your neighbors please email us at info@repcassidy.com.
Just Security created a Litigation Tracker, where you can track legal challenges against the Trump Administration.
Reproductive Rights in the U.S.
Above you will find a color-coded map to reflect the current status of abortion law across the United States. Click on the image or link here to view this resource.
Know Your Reproductive Rights in Illinois
Below you will find crucial information, provided by the ACLU, regarding knowing your reproductive rights in Illinois. You can find more information on their website here.
In Illinois, you have the fundamental right to make decisions about your reproductive health care. You have that right regardless of age, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, sexual behavior, class, immigration status, race, ethnicity, language ability, or disability status. You also have that fundamental right even if you are in State custody, control, or supervision including in jail, prison or under DCFS custody.
You have the right to keep your abortion confidential, regardless of how old you are.
If you are under 18, a clinic is not required by law to contact a parent or legal guardian if you are seeking abortion care services. Who you tell about your abortion is entirely up to you. Read more about the repeal of the Parental Notification Act (PNA), which Representative Cassidy helped pass, here.
Illinois Medicaid and most private health insurance plans are required to cover abortion care. If you have an Illinois-based private insurance plan, use this chart to see if abortion care is covered. There are also private organizations that may be able to help you with abortion costs listed in the next section of this webpage. Some clinics may also provide financial assistance.
As Illinois abortion care remains legal, those rights are extended to individuals seeking care in Illinois. For those that do not have the funds or means to travel to Illinois to seek out care, there are substantial resources available to subsidize your needs in the next section of this webpage.
Click on the image above to see ACLU's Know Your Rights document.
Finding Reproductive Care
If you specifically live in Chicago and you or someone you know is seeking reproductive health care support and services, residents can visit chicago.gov/abortioncare for trusted resources and information and how to find services. This website additionally has information and resources for those who are residents of Illinois, support for out-of-state individuals, financial support and after abortion care and support. Others seeking resources can also see the following:
Planned Parenthood Illinois - Planned Parenthood provides abortion services, birth control, emergency contraception, STI testing/treatment/vaccines, HIV services, PrEP prevention, Gender-Affirming Care, Men’s Health Services, Sexual Health Education, Pregnancy Testing and Services, Reproductive Health Services, Miscarriage Management, and more. Planned Parenthood also offers abortion services for individuals no matter where you reside and ask you to call 877-200-7745 to connect with an abortion navigator to help assist with funding, travel logistics, and emotional support. In addition if you need help covering the cost of your abortion, you can call 877-200-PPIL.
Chicago Abortion Fund - The Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF) offers abortion funding and travel support to residents of or people traveling to Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, and Arkansas to get abortion care as capacity allows.
Midwest Access Coalition - Midwest Access Coalition (MAC) provides assistance with travel, lodging, food, and more for those seeking abortions traveling to, from or within the Midwest. If you are under the age of 18, MAC provides services to Illinois, Minnesota and Washington DC (who has third trimester providers) for individuals who do or do not reside in those states.
National Network of Abortion Funds - The National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) is a network of nearly 100 abortion funds to assist in providing financial support for those seeking care.
National Abortion Hotline - The National Abortion Hotline (1-800-772-9100) is the largest national, toll-free, multi-lingual Hotline for abortion provider information and financial assistance. They provide callers with confidential consultations, information on abortion providers, case management services, and limited financial assistance for cost of care and travel-related expenses. The Hotline is free and offers services to everyone, regardless of the situation.
Plan C - Plan C is a public health campaign that works to give people access to abortion pills by mail, serving and working with every state in the US.
Independent Abortion Clinics in Illinois
Family Planning Associates - Family Planning Associates (FPA) is located in Chicago, Illinois and serves people across the U.S.
Hope Clinic - Hope Clinic has two locations–Chicago and Granite City (10 minutes from St. Louis, MO) and serves people from all over the US.
Equity Clinic - Equity Clinic is located in Champaign, Illinois and provides reproductive healthcare, including first and second trimester abortions, and contraception.
Alamo Women’s Clinic - Alamo Women’s Clinic is located in Carbondale, Illinois and offers abortion care to people across the US.
What is a Crisis Pregnancy Center?
Since the Dobbs decision, there has been an uptick in the prevalence of crisis pregnancy centers. Crisis pregnancy centers (called CPCs or fake clinics) are clinics or mobile vans that look like real health centers but have agendas to pressure or mislead people from getting an abortion. These clinics do not provide abortions and give inaccurate facts about sexual health and a woman's pregnancy options. Often crisis pregnancy centers are not licensed medical facilities, staffed by licensed professionals, or offer ultrasounds by unlicensed personnel. There are 90+ CPCs in Illinois. As of 2024, there are 2,633 CPCs nationwide.
You can visit crisispregnancycentermap.com to view an interactive map of CPCs nationwide. This can also help you verify that any care you are seeking is genuine before visiting a clinic and attending your appointments.
Click on the image above to go to the Interactive CPC Map.
Where is Abortion Legal in the U.S.?
In June of 2022, the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending the right to abortion in the United States that had been formerly accepted as precedent for decades prior. This decision came in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case. The ruling gave decision-making power, in terms of the right to an abortion, to each individual state. Some states enforced total bans on abortion, while others enforced bans at very early stages of pregnancy still making seeking abortions very difficult. In Illinois, your right to an abortion is still currently safe. Scroll down to the next section for more information on abortion protections in Illinois.
Abortion Law in Illinois
The Reproductive Health Act (2019)
In June of 2019, Governor JB Pritzker signed the Illinois General Assembly’s Reproductive Health Act into law, enshrining the right to choose into law for the State of Illinois. The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) was created so that the right to an abortion in Illinois did not rely on the fate of Roe v. Wade, given an increasingly conservative Supreme Court taking shape. Roe then fell only three years later, Illinois’ right to abortion still intact because of the protections granted in the RHA.
The RHA establishes the right to make individual decisions about reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, and maternity care. It also ensures regulations reflect current medical standards and requires private health insurance plans in Illinois to cover abortion like they do other pregnancy-related care. For more information about the RHA, you can visit the ACLU’s website.
“While all around us opponents are using misinformation and misogyny to justify attacks on bodily autonomy, I'm proud that here in Illinois, we've declared unequivocally that we trust patients and doctors to make these decisions safely and privately,” said Representative Cassidy, the House sponsor of the RHA, after its passing.
Click on the image above to see an At A Glance One-Pager of abortion law in Illinois provided by the ACLU.
The Dobbs Working Group
When the Dobbs decision was issued, Representative Cassidy was recognized as a leader in Illinois reproductive health by the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Emmanuel “Chris” Welch, through his request that she lead a working group dedicated to ensuring that Illinois crafts legislation that adequately responds to the consequences of the ruling. Since its formation in 2022, Representative Cassidy Chairs the Reproductive Health and the Dobb’s Decision Working Group. You can read Representative Cassidy’s original Statement regarding the forming of the Working Group from July 25, 2022 below.
The members of the Dobbs Working Group are as follows:
Representative Cassidy (Chair)
Representative Dagmara Avelar
Representative Mary Beth Canty
Representative Terra Costa Howard
Representative Margaret Croke
Representative Kimberly Du Buclet
Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth
Representative Lilian Jimenez
Representative Gregg Johnson
Representative Anna Moeller
Representative Yolonda Morris
Representative Kevin Olickal
Representative Ann Williams
In the Dobbs Working Group, a huge victory was achieved with the passage of HB4664, known as The Patient and Provider Protection Act,in January of 2023. The bill provides protections for lawful health care activity in Illinois from abusive litigation in other states. "Lawful health care" importantly includes reproductive health and gender-affirming health care. The bill:
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Protects information about lawful health care activity in Illinois from becoming subject to subpoenas issued from other states
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Protects witnesses from being compelled to testify in criminal proceedings in another state in a charge related to lawful health care activity
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Prohibits state courts from applying another state's law in Illinois cases related to lawful health care activity and prohibits courts from enforcing foreign judgments issued in connection with litigation concerning lawful health care activity
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Provides the Governor's discretion in complying with an extradition order from another state stemming from a charge based on conduct that involves lawful health care activity
Additionally, members of the Dobbs Working Group worked to pass HB 5239 which amends the Reproductive Health Care Act to prohibit the State from providing information or resources towards another state’s investigation against anyone seeking or facilitating an abortion, and it gives anyone whose information has been improperly shared a pathway to sue the state.
The bill also helps minors looking to come into Illinois for reproductive health and allows them to apply on their own behalf for aid under the Family Planning Program. The bill provides avenues for minors to make decisions for their own bodies because we understand that these decisions need to be made by them and them alone.
Legislative Updates
Updates at the Federal Level
For Reproductive Health-related developments at the Federal level, please continue to come back to this section for updated information. You will find a current list of updates below with accompanying dates and articles.
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Government Reproductive Health Website is Shut Down - January 20, 2025
The Federal Government website reproductiverights.gov was taken down the night of Trump’s Inauguration. The website, originally launched in 2022 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provided information regarding reproductive healthcare, access to abortion services, and a Know-Your-Rights patient fact sheet. It also provided information about which services, medications, screenings, and treatments that most employer-based and private health insurance plans are required to cover.
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Trump Pardons Violators of the FACE Act - January 23, 2025
President Trump announced that he would be pardoning several people convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances. Those convicted violated the FACE Act, a federal law passed in 1994, which was designed to protect patients, providers, and clinics from violence.
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President Trump Reinstates Anti-Abortion “Mexico City Rule” - January 24, 2025
President Trump reinstated a longstanding anti-abortion policy, favored by Republicans, known as the “Mexico City Rule.” This policy bars federal funding from going to any overseas nongovernmental organization that performs or promotes abortions. Federal law already bans using taxpayer dollars to support abortion services abroad, but the use of blocking foreign aid in this manner was originally started by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. In the years since, the policy has been revoked and reenacted, back and forth, depending on the administration. The policy has been in effect for 21 of the past 40 years.
See more. | Even more.
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New York Doctor, Louisiana Extradition, Abortion Pill Case - February 13, 2025 - ONGOING
A New York doctor has been indicted by a Louisiana grand jury for shipping abortion medication to a teen patient via telehealth. Louisiana officials have since sent out a warrant for the doctor’s extradition, which Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has refused to comply with. Governor Hochul has also since signed new legislation allowing abortion providers to use the names of their practices instead of their own names on prescription labels, adding a new extra layer of protection for doctors. The doctor in question has also been the target of Texas’ Attorney General for allegedly sending abortion pills to Texas, but was not criminally charged in that instance.
The doctor in question has also been the target of Texas’ Attorney General for allegedly sending abortion pills to Texas, but was not criminally charged in that instance.
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SCOTUS Declined to Hear Cases Protecting Buffer Zones - February 24, 2025
In some good news, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear two cases regarding challenges to buffer zone laws that were designed to keep patients and reproductive health clinics safe. This marks a huge win, the decision upheld from the 2000 SCOTUS case Hill v. Colorado.
The first case, in our home state, was Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois (opposition). Coalition Life, a St. Louis-based anti-abortion group, sued the city of Carbondale stating that their buffer zone ordinance violated the group’s First Amendment right to provide “sidewalk counseling” to patients seeking care at the town’s local clinics. The city has since rescinded their buffer zone ordinance, but were taken to the Supreme Court anyway in an effort to overturn the Hill decision. In Justice Clarence Thomas' dissent, he states, “I would have taken this opportunity to explicitly overrule Hill.”
The second case, Jeryl Turco v. City of Englewood, New Jersey, made similar arguments.
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SCOTUS rules against Planned Parenthood in Kerr v. Planned Parenthood - June 26, 2025
The U.S. the Supreme Court ruled against Planned Parenthood in Kerr v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic on June 26, 2025. The case decision states that Planned Parenthood cannot continue to use Medicaid coverage for nonabortion-related services. Unless states explicitly permit and fund it, abortion services are already not covered by Medicaid, except in cases of rape, incest, or threats to the life of the pregnant person, due to the Hyde Amendment. President Trump signed an Executive Order his fourth day into office called “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment,” although it is already established law. This is not the first time Planned Parenthood has been targeted in this type of case. We will continue to monitor this situation.
Updates at the State Level
To track the status of a bill in the Illinois General Assembly, you can visit ilga.gov. We will be updating this section with Reproductive Health-related bills that the Dobbs Working Group Members are working on to keep track of throughout this legislative session.
This bill creates the Health Care Transparency Act, which requires the Department of Public Health to disclose what reproductive health care services, LGBTQ health care services, and end-of-life health care services that are or may be subject to denial of care for nonmedical reasons.
This bill did not pass, but if it is picked up and reconsidered again during veto session, there will be updates here.
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HB3494 - Rep. Williams
This bill creates the Protect Health Data Privacy Act, which works to create protections around stored healthcare data. The bill states that a regulated entity shall not collect, share, or store health data, except in specified circumstances. The bill also makes it unlawful for any person to sell or offer to sell health data concerning an individual without first obtaining valid authorization from the individual.
This bill did not pass, but if it is picked up and reconsidered again during veto session, there will be updates here.
This bill works to add to Illinois’ Shield Law by making sure every license in the medical practice is protected.
This bill passed both houses and is awaiting a signature from the governor.
This bill requires contraception and medication abortion access for students on public university campuses.
This bill passed both houses and is awaiting a signature from the governor.
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HB3712 - Rep. Williams
This bill creates the Privacy Protections for Location Information Derived from Electronic Devices Act, working to put in protections for an individual’s location information.
This bill did not pass, but if it is picked up and reconsidered again during veto session, there will be updates here.
Additional Resources
Below you will find some helpful informational packets from the Illinois Attorney General's Office. Click on each image to see an enlarged PDF version you can download.
Protecting Personal Information
Know Your Reproductive Rights
Please see below for additional websites and phone numbers.
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Chicago Abortion Fund Financial Support (312-663-0338)
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Midwest Access Coalition Financial Support (847-750-6224)
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Planned Parenthood Finding an Abortion Provider (877-200-PPIL)
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National Abortion Hotline Financial Support (800-772-9100)
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Reproductive Rights Today Newsletter (Subscribe)
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Abortion, Every Day Newsletter (Subscribe)