Friday, February 27, 2009

Sign Petition Against Forced Sterilization in Illinois!

Help us pass HB 2290 in Illinois! This bill will provide legal protections against forced sterilization of people with disabilities under guardianship. Here is an easy way to show you care.

If you support ending involuntary sterilization in Illinois by passing HB 2290, please sign the FRIDA petition at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/hb2290/. We will pass this petition to the Illinois state legislature!

What Has Been Happening without HB 2290
- One guardian (the mother of the ward) did not seek the court’s authority to consent to her daughter’s involuntary sterilization. The intent of the guardian to have the woman sterilized was discovered when her father received notice that his insurance policy would not cover such a procedure. The father then interceded on his daughter’s behalf.

- The guardian of a young woman with a traumatic brain injury filed a petition to have her involuntarily sterilized. The woman had no knowledge of the pending petition, even though she had been using different kinds of contraception successfully for years, and expressed the desire to get married and raise a family one day.

For more information, please visit www.ourfrida.org. Call your Illinois state representative and ask them to support HB 2290 today! If you call, here is what you can say:

Hello Representative __________, I would like to ask you to sponsor House Bill 2290. This bill helps create a legal process that would protect people with disabilities who have guardians from being sterilized against their will. I believe that sterilizing people without their consent is a violation of their human rights. I would like the House Judiciary Committee to approve this bill as soon as possible so it can come up for a vote. Thank you!

Please sign our petition and call your state representative today!

Feminist Response in Disability Activism (FRIDA)
www.ourfrida.org

Committee members on this campaign thus far are: Jenny Choi, Sharon Lamp, Michelle Robbins, Amber Smock and Kimberly Wilson. Please contact Michelle at free_our_people@yahoo.com or (915) 496-5468 to help or for details.