Many of you are aware it is Women's History Month. While it may seem just like another month of "dusty old things" we need to remember, it is imperative that you realize that those "dusty old things" are fast on their way to being taken away from us. Women are not safe yet, they are being attacked through their healthcare options and their reproductive rights. Most of the women of today in business, commerce, government and leadership positions today, got there on the backs of those dusty old women we are celebrating this month. Without their constant effort to make women share in the rights of men in this nation and in the world, most of you could not hold the jobs you do now and experience some of the stature that your male counterparts share.

People rightly worry about the women in the various nations who are raped as part of war and victimized ruthlessly by men in areas of unrest, who are sequestered away by religious dogma, and well, guess what? There are some people in this country who are trying in their own way to turn back the clock on women's rights, who are trying to push us back down, and make up behave according to their religious dogma, their standards and their ideals.

We cannot afford to ignore these challenges. By the way, is this the far right GOP's newest plan to create jobs and help the economy, by pushing women down and back into the role of only domestic servant, wife, mother, etc. anything to keep them out of the paid workforce? Sounds crazy doesn't it? 

Here is an opportunity to speak out. If you would like the names and phone numbers of the member of the committee on HB 1569 and HB1919, you can pm me with your email and I will send the attachments to you.

Don't you think government has better things to do than attack the hard won rights of women, set up barriers to their healthcare and other issues? I do. I made my calls. How about you? 

 ~

From Planned Parenthood 

"By now you've heard a lot about attacks on women's health care in Congress.  What you may not know is that anti-choice extremists are attacking women's health care here in Illinois too.

Seven anti-women's health bills have been introduced in the Illinois General Assembly and we need your help to defeat them.  Three of these bills have been assigned for a hearing in the House Agriculture Committee.  That's right!  Women's health is being considered by the same committee that considers turkey hunting and cattle regulations!  This is outrageous.

What's more, each bill attacks the services Planned Parenthood provides by creating onerous government regulations that will make health care less accessible and more expensive for Illinois women.

• HB 1919 imposes a mandatory ultrasound requirement on women before they can have an abortion.  It forces women into a waiting period and then requires doctors to report the ultrasound data to the Illinois Department of Public Health.  Nothing in this bill will improve health care for women.  But, one thing is certain, it will make health care more expensive - especially for the Illinois Department of Public Health who will have to find taxpayer money to fund a database to track all of these ultrasounds.
• HB 2093 requires that practically every employee and volunteer of Planned Parenthood and any other organization that provides reproductive health care and sex education must be a mandated reporter of child abuse.  Planned Parenthood strongly supports reporting of child abuse - something our professional staff of doctors and nurses already does.  But, when you mandate that clerical staff and volunteers who have no contact with children in their jobs must be responsible for filing reports with a government agency or face criminal prosecution, it's gone too far.  Since doctors and nurses are already required to report child abuse, what this bill does is take away resources for women's health care by increasing costs and liability for reproductive health care providers like Planned Parenthood.  It also will create an added burden to the Department of Children and Family Services which will have to deal with thousands of new reporters.
• HB 3156 mandates unnecessary regulations on medical facilities in order to increase the cost of providing abortion care. They will force facilities to redesign and renovate buildings that have been providing quality care for years. These regulations will not make abortion any safer for women.  Back in 1985 anti-choice legislators tried to do the same thing.  Their efforts resulted in a lawsuit that ended up in a big legal bill for taxpayers.  If HB 3156 becomes law, the lawyers and the courts will get involved again, and we all will pay.

 Send a message to your state representative today.  Tell her/him to vote "NO" on HB 1919, HB 2093, and HB 3156."

From Planned Parenthood Illinois

Personal PAC

MCCC 

~

From: 

             If you haven’t done so already, there is still time to call              committee members and urge them to

VOTE NO

     HB 1919 (Ultrasound Mandate) was scheduled for Agriculture Committee 

     HB 1596 (Medical Savings Accounts) was scheduled for Insurance Committee. 

• HB 2093, sponsored by Rep. Reis, requires that office staff and volunteers of organizations that engage in abortion services (including referral), contraceptive services, gynecological services, or sex education must be mandated reporters of child abuse.  Currently, numerous professionals like physicians, nurses, teachers, and social workers are mandated reporters.  Staff (like clerical workers) who has little or no contact with minors in the course of their work are generally not mandated reporters.  Volunteers have never been mandated reporters.  We know that this legislation is designed as an attack on organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide reproductive health care and education.

• HB 3156, sponsored by Rep. Senger, requires that all Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Centers (ASTC’s) that perform abortions must follow all of the ASTC regulations.  This bill attempts to impose unnecessary and expensive regulations on abortion providers.  HB 3156 puts the State of Illinois at risk of litigation because, if enacted, it runs counter to the Ragsdale Consent Decree.  In the Ragsdale case the State was sued after it tried to enforce unconstitutional and unnecessary regulations that were designed to make abortion less accessible.  The Ragsdale Consent Decree was agreed to by providers and the State as a compromise which would allow providers to continue their work and end litigation.

 Mini Civics Lesson

 

One of the first major steps toward getting a bill to be voted upon is to hold a hearing in the appropriate or related committee.  Lawmakers are usually assigned to committees based on their interest and expertise in the subject matter. The purpose of that committee process is to ensure that bills that reach the House floor for a vote are sound both in form and policy. 

 

This process also allows citizens to have their voices heard. The public can attend a hearing and voice support for or against a bill. (Thus MCCC along with other organizations signed a witness list for HB 1919).

 

But when bills are placed in committees that have nothing to do with their subject matter, the entire legislative process risks being subverted.

 

Some bills with little chance of passing in their correct committee can sail through another committee simply because lawmakers don't know or care to ask the right questions.

 

Rep. Brenden Phelps, a Democrat from downstate Harrisburg, sponsor of HB 1919, stated "...You want to put (the bill) where it's going to get (voted) out so you can get it to the floor."

 

Excerpted from:

http://capitolfax.com/2011/02/

 

http://bgathinktank.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/in-general-assembly-a-surprise-call-to-farm-out-controversial-bills/ 

VIA MCCC 

 

Copyright 2011 by SheilaTGTG55 unless otherwise attributed.