SPRINGFIELD – On the anniversary of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, State Senator Ann Gillespie is urging Illinois women to continue fighting to protect their health care from government intrusion.

“Women’s rights – specifically the right to make our own health care decisions – are under assault every day,” said Gillespie, an Arlington Heights Democrat. “Although Illinois has taken dramatic steps to protect women’s reproductive decisions, it is clear to me that we can never stand down in our fight for fairness and autonomy.”

Gillespie praised Gov. JB Pritzker for issuing an executive order today enforcing House Bill 40, which protects a woman’s right to choose in Illinois.

The 2017 law removes the “trigger” provision from a 1975 Illinois law that would reinstate previous state policy banning abortion in the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Additionally the law allows abortion coverage for individuals on Medicaid or covered by State Employee Health Insurance plans.

Prtizker’s order directs the Department of Central Management Services to ensure all state employee health benefit plans include that coverage by July 1, 2019.

“This matter was settled by the highest court in the nation. Yet here we are, nearly 50 years later, rehashing whether women should have control over their own health care,” Gillespie said. “It’s troubling to me, and I urge women and men everywhere to continue fighting for rights that shouldn’t even be up for debate.”