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What Is the Restroom Access Act?
Medical conditions can cause the sudden and sometimes painful urge to have a bowel movement — and this urge doesn’t always happen when a public restroom is available.

This is what Ally Bain learned at age 14 when she was in Chicago shopping at a popular retail store. Having been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease for three years at the time, Ally was with her mother when she experienced the sudden urge to use the restroom. However, no public restroom was available. Ally and her mother asked an employee and store manager to use the employee restroom but were denied. This resulted in an embarrassing and public accident for Ally.

Instead of allowing this incident to discourage her, Ally used her experience to advocate for herself and others through creating the “Restroom Access Act,” also known as “Ally’s Law.” This law has since been passed by several states. It says in most retail establishments that don’t have public restrooms, people who have medical conditions that require immediate bathroom access (such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, etc.) must be allowed access to employee restrooms.

An estimated 1.6 million people in the United States have relevant medical conditions. When these people need to use the restroom, it is not out of convenience. It can be a medical emergency. The Restroom Access Act raises awareness, protects vulnerable individuals, improves their quality of life snd and allows them greater access to the world.

States that have passed a version of Ally’s Law include:

Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
New York
Ohio
Oregon
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

States have created some exemptions for certain businesses, including those who have fewer than three employees. This is because an employee escorting a person to the restroom could leave a retail space vulnerable to theft or destruction.

Retail stores also don’t have to perform new construction or alter their facilities in any way to accommodate the law. They can also refer a person to an immediately accessible public restroom. The retail store is also exempt from liability if the person using the restroom is injured while using the restroom, unless the business is negligent in some way.