[Peace-discuss] Need *URGENT HELP* to save contraceptive coverage! Take action!

[Brooke Anderson]

Dear friends,

I am writing for your URGENT ASSISTANCE! This is very important! 
Please read on for an update and what you can do to help save 
contraceptive coverage in Illinois.

The contraceptive coverage law (HB 211 - which requires Illinois 
health insurance plans to cover prescription contraceptives) that we 
worked so hard to pass last year is in jeopardy! There is now 
legislation before the Illinois House that could greatly undermine 
(if not make meaningless) the contraceptive coverage requirement in 
the state of Illinois. This legislation could come up for a vote in 
the Illinois House as early as tomorrow (they already voted to adopt 
the amendment today)!

This legislation, SB 827, would allow a "religious institution or 
organization" to refuse to purchase health insurance coverage that 
includes contraceptive coverage if doing so would "violate its 
religious and moral teachings and beliefs."

However, Illinois already has a so-called "right of conscience 
clause" that allows employers to provide insurance without 
contraceptive coverage by purchasing a plan from a company that 
invokes such a clause. To add additional, vague exemptions would undo 
the Illinois Contraceptive Coverage law, making it meaningless. We 
must defeat this legislation to protect our hard-won contraceptive 
coverage legislation.

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PLEASE TAKE ACTION!!
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We have provided you below with a sample message and all the emails 
that we have for members of the Illinois House of Representatives. 
Please, please take a moment to copy and paste the email addresses 
into your address field (or blind carbon copy would be even better), 
and copy and paste the sample message into the body of your email and 
sign and send a message to everyone in the House to tell them to 
*OPPOSE* SB 827. Please copy or blind carbon copy me 
(brooke at shout.net) to any emails you send so we can keep track of how 
many are sent. Thanks!

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SAMPLE MESSAGE
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Dear Representatives,

I am writing to ask you to oppose Illinois Senate Bill 827, the 
Exemption to Contraceptive Coverage in Health Insurance, sponsored by 
Rep. Grunloh. If passed, SB 827 would allow a "religious institution 
or organization" to refuse to purchase health insurance coverage that 
includes contraceptive coverage if doing so would "violate its 
religious and moral teachings and beliefs." Current law already 
allows employers to purchase insurance without contraceptive coverage 
by purchasing a plan from a company that invokes a right of 
conscience.  To add additional, vague exemptions would undo Illinois 
Contraceptive Coverage law, making it meaningless.

Please vote NO on SB 827.

Sincerely,
<YOUR NAME GOES HERE>

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EMAIL ADDRESSES
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And here are the email addresses. Just copy and paste the addresses 
below into a message to all members of the House of Representatives:

eacevedo at hdsmail.state.il.us, pbailey at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
tberrios at hdsmail.state.il.us, mboland at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
repjohnbradley at mychoice.net, rbradley at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
jbrosnahan at prodigy.net, dburke at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
rcapparelli at hdsmail.state.il.us, lchapalavia at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
acollins at hdsmail.state.il.us, mcolvin at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
repcurrie at earthlink.net, mdavis at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
davissw at lycos.com, wdavis at hdsmail.state.il.us, repdelgado at aol.com, 
ldugan at hdsmail.state.il.us, kdunkin at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
sara at staterepsara.com, bflider at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
mflowers at hdsmail.state.il.us, jack at jackfranks.org, 
cgiles at hdsmail.state.il.us, staterepgordon at sbcglobal.net, 
dgraham at hdsmail.state.il.us, kgranberg at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
ILREP at BillGrunloh.org, julie at juliehamos.org, 
hannig at hdsmail.state.il.us, jayhoffman at charter.net, 
tholbrook at hdsmail.state.il.us, conhow at webtv.net, 
n.jakobsson at worldnet.att.net, staterepchuck67 at aol.com, 
lovanaj at aol.com, kjoyce at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
rkelly at hdsmail.state.il.us, RepLouLang at aol.com, 
jlyons at hdsmail.state.il.us, mmadigan at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
fmautino at hdsmail.state.il.us, karenmay58 at aol.com, kevmac37 at att.net, 
strep86 at aol.com, lmckeon at larrymckeon.com, repmendoza at aol.com, 
dmiller at hdsmail.state.il.us, rmolaro at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
cmorrow26 at aol.com, repnekritz at aol.com, HJO017 at aol.com, 
bphelps at hdsmail.state.il.us, repreitz at egyptian.net, 
rrita at hdsmail.state.il.us, kathy at kathyryg.org, rep_scully at yahoo.com, 
rslone at bwsys.net, mks at winco.net, csoto at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
aturner at hdsmail.state.il.us, pverschoore at qconline.com, 
ewashington at hdsmail.state.il.us, kyarbrough at hdsmail.state.il.us, 
wyounge at hdsmail.state.il.us, repbassi at aol.com, coulson at earthlink.net, 
shanecultra105 at hotmail.com, statereppaul at sbcglobal.net, 
hassert85 at aol.com, randy at rhultgren.com, rkosel at aol.com, 
repkrause at aol.com, dstrct65 at aol.com, mmcauliffe20 at yahoo.com, 
jhmeyer at msn.com, repmitchell at cin.net, moffitt at grics.net, 
reposmond at aol.com, carole at pankau.org, community at sandrapihos.com, 
jimsacia at aeroinc.net, skip at skipsaviano.com, reptimschmitz at aol.com, 
sommer at mtco.com, stephens at apci.net, ilhouse51 at sbcglobal.net, 
repwait at aol.com, jimwatson at localnetco.com, chapin at chapinrose.com

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT!!!
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There will be an emergency meeting tomorrow (Thursday, May 20th) at 
12 noon at Champaign County Health Care Consumers at 44 E. Main 
Street, Suite #208 to discuss plans for defeating this legislation. 
Contact me at (217) 352-6533, ext. 17 or at brooke at shout.net to 
volunteer or for more information.

Thanks,

Brooke Anderson
On behalf of the Women's Health Task Force
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Brooke Anderson
Champaign County Health Care Consumers
44 E. Main St., Suite 208
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone = (217) 352-6533, x 17
Fax = (217) 352-9745
Email = brooke at shout.net
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