About ICAN!

Illinois Contraceptive Access Now (ICAN!) is a statewide initiative to advance reproductive health equity by improving the quality and coverage of contraceptive care at community health centers. We believe that every person should have the ability to decide if, when, and under what circumstances to be pregnant and parent. ICAN!’s digital platform provides birth control education and connects anyone to trusted, highly skilled contraceptive care providers at our Quality Hub locations.

Our Background

People in Illinois continue to face multiple, intersecting barriers to accessing high quality contraceptive services, preventing communities from experiencing optimal health outcomes and individuals from exercising reproductive autonomy and achieving reproductive well-being across the lifespan. ICAN!’s strategy is informed by reproductive justice theory. As such, our goal is not to direct individuals towards particular contraceptive methods but rather to create the conditions for individuals to make informed decisions about their reproductive and sexual health using a patient-centered contraceptive counseling model.

ICAN! stands in solidarity with communities of color whose right to parent in safe and healthy environments is routinely violated by racist and xenophobic violence. Our efforts to advance contraceptive equity are one piece of the greater struggle against all forms of racial and economic oppression that adversely affect individuals’ reproductive lives.

Policy Work

We will pursue and oversee implementation of cost-effective policies that leverage public dollars to expand coverage of and payment for contraceptive services. Our priorities will include:

Expanding coverage eligibility for people currently in the Contraceptive Coverage Gap
Increasing points of contraceptive care by via telehealth, pharmacy dispensing, and direct to consumer delivery.
Improving health plan quality by ensuring adequate network coverage and referrals for reproductive health care and by incorporating contraceptive counseling quality as a performance metric

ICAN! is grateful for the generous support of our funders.

The Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation

The PATH Framework

The PATH Framework is a patient-centered model designed to help providers and staff engage in conversation with patients and clients about their sexual and reproductive health. It is based around a shared-decision making model, designed to yield maximal amount of information in an efficient way and it can be used with patients of any demographic without judgement. The brief ICAN! quiz extrapolates from the PATH framework serving as a simple tool to better understand one’s contraceptive preferences prior to the appointment with the provider. Thank you to Patty Cason, founder of PATH for sharing her work with ICAN!

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