Fifty-four years ago this summer, I moved to Illinois. This storied state had so much history, so much to offer anyone who called it home. Just a short look at the advantages Illinois has would cause many to call it number one of the fifty states.
Illinois has had some mighty impressive figures in its 200 year history. First and foremost was Abraham Lincoln, considered one of the two best Presidents in American history (the other, of course, was George Washington, but he was a Virginian!) U. S. Grant met his first command in the Civil War at Mattoon, and John Logan was an outstanding military leader in that war; he also helped begin Decoration Day (Memorial Day today) after that conflict. And, for all his faults, and they are many, Barack Obama hails from the Land of Lincoln.
Other notable Illinoisans are too numerous to list, but the state has produced some of America’s literary greats. Carl Sandburg was from Galesburg, Gwendolyn Brooks came from Chicago, and The Spoon River Anthology, written by Edgar Lee Masters, is still studied today.
Illinois is home to the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox. The Blackhawks, Cubs and White Sox have each won championships in their sport recently, and the Bears won many crowns down through the years, and was one of the original franchises in the NFL.
Chicago has enjoyed the status as America’s “Second City”, and is a center for cultural activity, banking, and research, especially in the medical field. World renowned institutions of higher learning abound. There is Northwestern, in Chicago, and the University of Illinois in Champaign. But the university system also boasts excellent colleges and universities, like Eastern Illinois in Charleston (my alma Mater), Southern Illinois in Carbondale. Many smaller, but excellent institutions, many private, dot the landscape in Illinois.
Illinois also lays claim to the richest farmland in the world, equaled only by soil in the Ukraine. We raise corn and soybeans for consumption in nations around the globe. To facilitate this, major implement factories churn out the hardware to get the crops planted and harvested. Coal became a major industry in the early history of the state, though not so much today.
Tell people you are from Illinois and the not so glamorous past arises for some will mention Al Capone, John Dillinger (from Indiana, but killed in Chicago), speakeasys and organized crime. Eliot Ness, the “untouchable” federal agent, targeted Capone and his henchmen. One of the nation’s top trial lawyers, Clarence Darrow, claimed Illinois as part of his bailiwick.
You get the idea, I am sure. Illinois could claim to be one of the top states in the country. But today, we are in dire financial straits, one of the worst three states in business climate, pension underfunding and livability standards. Fiscally, Chicago is a basket case, the legislature is trying to get more money to mismanage by changing the constitution to allow for more income tax to be collected.
But now our favored state can claim to be number one in another realm. Yesterday (May 30) the Illinois House passed a bill that is the most liberal on abortion. Two women House members had written the bill, proudly proclaiming that we were leaders in “reproductive health” for women. Given no advance notice, pro-lifers were faced with a quick vote and little time to prepare to attack the bill. Republican Representative Avery Bourne, in her 34thweek of pregnancy, voiced the pro-life position, to no avail. No restrictions on this procedure are seen in the proposed law, surpassing the New York statute that was formerly the most favorable to abortion seekers and providers. Today (May 31) the measure goes to the Illinois Senate, and the majority Democrats, who hold a supermajority in both Houses of the Legislature, are sure to pass it. Democratic Governor, J. B. Pritzker, has promised to sign the bill into law when it lands on his desk.
Here we are, number one again. When ease of abortion is discussed, this state is at the top of all fifty, proud expediters of killing the unborn. While this was passed in the session to be completed today, one of our neighboring states enacted a bill that is one of the most restrictive about abortion. Missouri, led by their Republican Governor, Michael Parson, passed a law which severely restricts access to abortions after a heartbeat can be detected. In addition, the lone surviving abortion clinic in Missouri, in St. Louis, will not be recertified unless the facility complies with the law concerning them. Further down the Mississippi, Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards, signed a “heartbeat” anti-abortion bill into law.
With the United States one of three nations with the least restrictions on abortions (the others are North Korea and China), we become more firmly entrenched in that company with the passage of this law in Illinois.
What can be done about this? Do we as Illinoisans just hang our head in shame and accept we live in this state which has so little regard for life, for unborn life? The bill contains these words, “a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights.” This statement ignores the scientific fact that the DNA of a fertilized egg is different from that of either its mother or father, and that the fetus has a heartbeat within 21 days of conception. Yet this bill comes from the self-proclaimed “party of science!” With that phrase,the first step on what could become a slippery slope is taken, for which group is next to be legislated as having no rights? Perhaps a cohort of this 77 year old white male, retired and living on the contributions by the younger generations will be targeted.
Laws such as this can be repealed, but unless Illinois turns red in the near future, we will become mecca for those who provide abortions and those who desire them. Too often the wishes of the majority, who according to multiple polls do not wish to overturn Roe v. Wade, but want to have restrictions on the procedure, are ignored.
Remember, we are number one in the nation for access to abortion. Do not forget this when you vote in next year’s primary and general election!