CHICAGO – Planned Parenthood Illinois Action (PPIA) is holding a day of action on Saturday, Oct. 5, to raise awareness that Illinois is in the crosshairs of Project 2025 initiatives in the November election. PPIA supporters and volunteers are fanning out across the state to knock on doors and educate voters on the dangers of anti-choice politicians in the Illinois General Assembly and their quest to roll back the progress on reproductive rights made in recent years. Canvasing is happening in Barrington, Westmont and Wheaton. There will be more locations in the downstate communities of DeKalb, Bloomington and Carbondale.  
“As the election season heats up, Illinois voters need to know about the serious risks posed by Project 2025,” said PPIA Chief External Affairs Officer Cristina Villarreal. “This effort, driven by politically motivated interests, has the potential to severely undermine reproductive health care access and rights that we fought so hard to win across the state.” 
Each year, legislation is introduced in Illinois that would repeal the Reproductive Health Act, the landmark legislation that ensured that abortion is a fundamental right in the state. If successful, it would dramatically alter the intentions of the Illinois public and shift Illinois from being a progressive state that values access to abortion into an anti-choice state that would align with national extremists that would be perusing a nationwide ban on access to abortion. 
Project 2025 calls for legislation aimed at limiting or outright banning access to safe and legal abortion services, potentially overturning current protections in Illinois that safeguard reproductive rights. It would also defund essential services including contraception, cancer screenings, prenatal care, and other vital reproductive health services, disproportionately impacting low-income and rural communities. 
Project 2025 aims to create significant barriers for individuals seeking reproductive health care, particularly for marginalized groups who already face challenges in accessing quality health services. The initiative’s proposals could result also in increased government intrusion into private medical decisions, threatening the confidentiality and autonomy of individuals making personal health care choices.
Through their legislative action and policy support, Anti-choice politicians in Illinois have already made their agenda clear. In the last legislative session, anti-sexual and reproductive health care politicians have introduced 53 bills that would dramatically limit access to essential health care. This includes the restriction on the use of mobile health care clinics, limiting access to abortion care later in pregnancy, and instituting burdensome waiting periods that could create barriers to timely care.
PPIA’s day of action is Saturday, Oct. 5. For more information visit https:bit.ly/PPIA2024DayOfAction.