Wednesday, March 4, 2009

F.R.I.D.A. advocates for bill to stop sterilization of people with disabilities under guardianship in Illinois

From F.R.I.D.A.:

Help us pass HB 2290 in Illinois! This bill will provide legal protections against forced sterilization of people with disabilities under guardianship.

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.