Reproductive Rights

Planned Parenthood Groups in 

Illinois, Wisconsin Partner 

to Improve Access

By Jonah Chester
Producer, Public News Service

 

     Illinois - (PNS) - 7/27/22 - Planned Parenthood of Illinois and Wisconsin are partnering to improve abortion access for Wisconsinites.

    Abortion in Wisconsin was functionally banned after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case guaranteeing access to abortions.

    Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said the new partnership will increase services at the state's Waukegan clinic, just across the Wisconsin-Illinois border, south of Kenosha.

    "Abortion providers from Wisconsin now travel to Illinois several days a week to expand access to care at our Waukegan health center," Welch explained. "We opened the Waukegan health center in 2020 in anticipation of this moment."

    The legality of Wisconsin's 1849 abortion ban is currently a matter of dispute, and the state's Democratic Attorney General has filed a lawsuit to strike down the pre-Civil War measure. Even if its enforceability is questionable, the threat of legal action pushed Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to discontinue providing abortion care at its clinics.

    Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said the organization will continue to offer non-abortion-related reproductive health care. She added support is available for anyone who needs help getting to the Waukegan clinic.

    "We have also added patient navigators who can work with patients one-on-one and offer additional travel and financial support," Atkinson outlined. "We really want to remove those barriers for people, as much as we're able."

    According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, in 2020, Illinois clinics performed roughly 530 abortions for Wisconsin patients, out of the nearly 9,700 total abortions performed for out-of-state residents.

    Kristen Schultz, chief strategy and operations officer for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said demand has exploded since Roe's fall.

    "Patients from Wisconsin traveling to our health centers across the state in Illinois for abortion has increased 10 times versus the pre-June average," Schultz reported. "We expect to see this need continue to expand."

    Before the Supreme Court's ruling, the number of out-of-state abortions Illinois clinics provided had steadily grown over the years. In 1995, the state performed about 3,600 abortions for out-of-state patients, roughly 63% below the number provided in 2020.

References:  

Ruling U.S. Supreme Court 06/24/2022
Abortion law Wis. State Legislature 1849
Abortion statistics Ill. Dept. of Public Health 2020

Credit: Story published courtesy of Public News Service.

Wisconsin Makes High-Stakes Gamble on Budget

   By Melissa Leu - (Illinois Statehouse News) - 2/27/2011 - SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers may be feeling a sense of deja vu as they look to neighboring Wisconsin's struggle to solve a pension and budget deficit. Illinois last March reformed its public employee pensions when the General Assembly passed legislation that created a “two-tier” pension system.
   However, Wisconsin has added collective bargaining rights to the mix, muddying the waters.
   Amid widespread protest, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker proposed a budget repair bill that would require public workers to contribute more to their pensions and health insurance and reduce their collective bargaining rights.
   Wisconsin Democratic senators have fled the Capitol in protest of the repeal of most collective bargaining rights, leaving the rest of the GOP-led legislature to ponder how to close the state’s $136.7 million budget deficit for the current year. Walker's plan passed the Assembly chamber early Friday morning, but still needs to clear the Senate before hitting Walker's desk for his signature.
  Illinois' reforms allow current employees to keep their existing pension plan, changing the rules only for new employees hired after Jan. 1. The retirement age increased to 67, maximum salaries were capped at $106,800 and payouts became based on a worker's highest salary during eight consecutive years of the last 10.
   At the time, Illinois was facing a roughly $13-billion budget deficit. Although the measure angered unions, it was passed and ratified without much legislative opposition — 92-17 in the House and 48-6 in the Senate.
   Jim Nowlan, a research fellow at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, attributes the diverging reactions from each state to a contrasting political climate.
   “The speaker of the (Illinois) House did strike very quickly last year and surprised the public employee unions, which did mount some opposition,” Nowlan said.
   Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, pushed the measure through in a single day.
   Nowlan attributes the lack of comparable opposition to a Democratic majority in the Illinois Legislature — typically backed by labor unions — that led the charge for pension reform. He likened Madigan's Democratic push to that of the late Republican President Richard Nixon's visit to China.
   “Only President Nixon could go to China back in his administration. A Democratic president would not have been able to get away with going to China to face and meet with the Communist leader of the world,” Nowlan said.
   In contrast, Wisconsin Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate. Walker, also a Republican, has made national news recently for moving to restrict union collective bargaining rights.
   Illinois state Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, who recalls last year's pension reforms, said he approves of how Wisconsin Republicans are handling the current situation.
   “Illinois is just putting off for a few months, maybe a year, what is inevitably going to be some painful decisions, because of the fact they refused to make small improvements over the last few years,” Syverson said.
   David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, said the widespread protests aren’t surprising considering the financial crisis and recent political turnover in Wisconsin leadership.
   “It's one thing to raise questions about the level of benefits, about the numbers of state workers, and it's another thing to question whether unions really have a right to exist. So that's bound to spark a great deal of militancy on the part of labor leaders,” Yepsen said.
   Walker has threatened layoffs of state workers if his budget repair bill doesn't pass within the next few days.
   Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said an attack on public unions is an attack on middle-class America.
   “There is no good public policy justification for any of these attacks on vital services that teachers, firefighters, police officers, nurses and public service workers provide to the state of Illinois,” said Lindall.
   Like the proposal itself, even Wisconsin’s future seems to be a place of contention.
   “I think Wisconsin, at the end of the day, is going to pay a terrible price for this,” Yepsen of the Simon Institute said. “The Republicans may well win in the short term, but they are going to create levels of personal animosity that will make it difficult for their policy makers to work together. They're going to create levels of union militancy that's going to affect the delivery of public services.
   Syverson, the Rockford senator, however, had a more positive outlook.
   “What's going to happen a year from now is that people are going to look back and say the tough decision that Wisconsin made as regard to their budget has made them financially sound,” Syverson said. “Their bond rating is going to be good. They're going to be attracting more business (and) more jobs because they’re going to be a financially sound state.”
   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News. Originally published 2/24/2011.

Koch Brothers Fund Walker's Union-Busting Effort

Online production of Democracy Now! - posted on Feb. 24, 2011.

Wisconsin works to poach Illinois businesses

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               By Andrew Thomason
             Illinois Statehouse News
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   SPRINGFIELD - 1/22/11 - Leaders in neighboring states have used Illinois’ recent income tax increase to try to lure businesses into moving, and Wisconsin could soon have another piece of bait in that battle: tax breaks.
   A plan to forgive income taxes for two years for businesses that move to Illinois’ northern neighbor has passed through one chamber of Wisconsin’s Legislature and is now awaiting state Senate approval.

   The measure got overwhelming approval in Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled state Assembly, and could be passed out of the Republican-controlled state Senate as early as next week. It would then go to GOP Gov. Scott Walker, who campaigned on corporate income tax breaks.

   “It’s like when you see these rental properties that might have a bunch of empty units and offers the first month’s rent free if you sign a lease with us. It’s the same concept,” Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said.

   He added that while this was in the works even before Walker was elected, it does gain extra relevance because of the tax increase recently approved in Illinois.

   Walker has been vocal about trying to drive companies out of Illinois and into his state since the income tax hike, but at least one Wisconsin business isn’t listening.

   Jim Rozell owns a hotel analytics company and plans to relocate from Glendale, Wisc., to Chicago by the end of the year. Hotel Compete currently has five employees, but Rozell said he will likely hire 10 more people once he comes to Illinois.

   Rozell said he started planning the move before taxes went up Illinois, but hearing about it didn’t deter him.

   “Initially one of my big deciding factors was that taxes were much lower (in Illinois). Even with your tax increase, it’s still lower than Wisconsin,” Rozell said.

   Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has emphasized that money from the higher taxes is necessary to fix a structural deficit that has made the state a national illustration of what not to do fiscally.

   “Illinois is focused on putting our financial house in order, making us a stronger environment for business and that is what Gov. Quinn is focused on,” Quinn spokeswoman Brienne Callahan said.

   “We’re focused on us and doing the right things for Illinois and bringing businesses to Illinois and making us a stronger competitor.”

  Quinn’s office has been working to counter claims by Walker and opponents of the tax increase in Illinois that employers will flee the state now.

   Earlier in the week it was announced that a Evraz Inc., a steel company, will locate its North American headquarters in Chicago, bringing with it 70 jobs.

   “Illinois continues making great strides toward economic recovery. Evraz’s decision to move here is one more indication that our business climate and our work force are attractive to major national and international corporations,” Quinn said in a news release.

   And Quinn’s office even announced that Illinois would be doing some business poaching of its own. A news release sent out Friday afternoon stated that Becker Iron & Metal, a scrap metal company, would be moving from Missouri to Illinois, bringing with it 40 jobs.

   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News.