How Illinois should copy Colorado

I contacted Representative Mike Fortner, Senator Jim Oberweis, and Governor Rauner asking they support HB 40.

Each office's staff person quickly said their boss was against the bill. None took any of my comments. I am a constituent and was not given the opportunity to present why I wished my representatives to vote for HB40. I was not heard and my opinion was not respected.

I am prayerfully pro-choice. I don't like abortion but strongly believe it needs to be a decision between a woman, her doctor and her God. If my representatives are voting against the bill because they feel their constituents are against it, they should be aware that the majority of Americans support Roe v. Wade. A 2017 poll by Quinnipiac University shows 70 percent of Americans support it.

If my representatives are voting against this bill because they, like me, wish to lower abortion rates, there are things they can do to accomplish this goal but making abortion illegal is not one of them. The Slate Study of 2016 shows that countries where abortion is illegal tend to have higher rates of abortion than do countries where it is legal. The only things consistently proven to reduce abortion rates are comprehensive reproductive education and easy access to affordable contraception.

Illinois should be working on an initiative such as The Colorado Family Planning Initiative which fully funds reproductive health care, funds health clinics, funds a public awareness campaign, and funds various forms of birth control. Since the initiative was put in place, teen birthrates have dropped 40 percent teen abortions have dropped 35 percent, and for every dollar spent on the initiative, $5.85 has been saved in related medical expenses.

Cheryl Jones Das

Batavia