Roe vs Wade and all the rest

So my immediate local area has been without an abortion clinic for the last decade. I thought I blogged about it back then, but I couldn't find the post about why it closed down, but I found other posts about the clinic on my old blog.  

10 years ago the clinic shut down because of serious health violations. rusty tools, no way to sterilize tools, no nurse on staff, and just nasty and filthy. The doctor and owner ultimately decided to shut down permanently - The fine was much cheaper if he just shut down vs trying to stay open and fix the violations. 

So for the last 10 years, there has been no clinic here. The nearest one is 70 plus miles away. Yep, that's right, people here have to travel and have been traveling for the last decade 70 plus miles for an abortion. 

I'm sure many of you have seen the maps and Illinois is basically an island and basically the only "abortion friendly" place in the midwest. As a result, not surprisingly, a doctor wants to open up a clinic here. I shouldn't be surprised, but the doctor that wants to open up a clinic is the SAME doctor who owns and operated the nasty, dirty, unsafe place I mentioned above.  Yes -- that doctor wants to open up a new clinic. 

Putting aside my personal views on abortion I'm appalled that anyone would be happy about this particular doctor opening up a new clinic. His track record has shown he's unsafe for women! No nurse, filthy environment, rusty tools, no machine to sterilize equipment, etc. 

There is a local Democratic candidate running for local office and when I pointed that out to her the response I got was that it was basically the fault of the pro-life protestors.  That the protestors make it so good abortionists do not want to work in our area; that the protestors make it too much of a hostile environment.  Yes, it's somehow the fault of the protestors the place this doctor ran was just nasty, filthy, dirty, on the inside. 

I pointed out this doctor's track record to a local liberal who on their TikTok expressed wanting help. They wanted people to gather around the women that want to use this new clinic when it opens (if it opens), to protect them from the pro-life protestors. When I pointed out that I wouldn't use this doctor or any clinic associated with this doctor her response was "that's your choice, but I'm going to help women get access to what is their choice" -- or something to that effect.  Totally disregarding the fact that my concern is how this particular doctor has a horrible track record on keeping a clean, sterile, healthy environment -

These two women are angry and appalled that women (or children) have to travel out of state for care. They are appalled that rights are being taken away, they are angry over all the stories of care being denied, medication being denied, and appointments being canceled, but yet have no anger or disgust for the way this doctor ran his clinic 10 years ago, have no anger and disgust that he may open up a new clinic. 

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Illinois Homeschool High School Graduation Requirements

It's that time of year when people are either thinking ahead for the next school year or start to question if they have done everything they need to do to meet Graduation Requirements.

Over and over again I see nervous parents start looking for requirements, standards, and it never fails someone pulls up the requirements on ISBE site and thinks it applies to them.

Illinois laws, believe it or not, when it comes to homeschooling are very relaxed and low-key. It can be summed up this way.

Separation of Church and State

Illinois like other states had swiping abortion law changes. The changes in the new laws in Illinois will make it easier for abortions and will allow for later term abortions as well.

With these changes in the law, there is an actually a Catholic Bishop standing up! He announced that lawmakers that voted the recent bill will not be allowed to receive communion.

Of course, my local news outlet posted about what the Catholic Bishop did on their Facebook page and many commented with "separation of Church and State".

My first thoughts after seeing all these comments about "separation of Church and State":

STOP Illinois SB 2075

Illinois SB 2075 purpose is to lower the compulsory age in Illinois from 6 to 5. This bill if passed and made into law will apply to children, public, private and homeschoolers. Over the last couple of weeks while the bill was in committee many Illinoisian tried to voice their opposition to the bill and filled out witness slips.  Over 2200 witness slips were filled out saying NO to this bill; on the other hand 7 that's right 7 1.2.3.4.5.6.7 slips were filled out saying yes.

Witness Slips for Illinois SB 2075

Tell it to Mrs. Kravitz

I believe that in very general terms it seems society is more and more like Mrs. Kravitz. The busy body that is so worried about what everyone else is up to and thinks nothing of calling the authorities or anyone else when they are sure the neighbor is up to no good, even without any more proof other than their feelings.

Illinois has TWO pending bills. Both bills if passed will change the compulsory ages.  The first is SB 2075. SB 2075 is meant to change the compulsory age from 6 to 5 and make Kindergarten mandatory.  The second SB 1478 will change the compulsory age from 17 to 18.

We Need More Gun Control

We need more Gun Control is the chant you here anytime anymore when some kind of gun violence happens.

Yesterday, a local tragedy made national headlines. I had many friends and acquaintances that knew where I live, but not enough to know if I lived in the immediate area of the tragedy message me asking if I or my family are okay. What's going on? Did I know more than what was being shared on the national news?

Illinois HB 3560

I know this post is "late to the game" so to speak and that current word is to just wait and see and hopefully we will know early this coming week if the sponsor is true to her word and will table the bill.

I have not had time to formulate a blog post until now so this will be more of a recap in case you haven't been out of the loop. Late last night I did get word about bill HB 3560 and did make a quick post on my facebook page:

I woke up this morning to a whirlwind of posts and notifications. I spent several hours going over them and updating myself and spreading the word on what was going on -- plus you know those normal mom duties: house cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.

As of now, the time of this post, the bill sponsor has promised to table the bill when she goes back to work later this coming week.  This will most likely come Tuesday, perhaps as late as Wednesday seeing it's the holiday weekend: Presidents' Day. So we have to wait and see if she will be true to her words.

So what is HB 3560? What is the cause for concern?
The synopsis as written on the Illinois General Assembly page:

Amends the School Code. Provides that, after a home-schooling registration form is submitted, the State Board of Education must request a Child Protective Service Unit of the Department of Children and Family Services to investigate the home in which the home schooling will occur to ensure there is no suspected child abuse or neglect in the home. Provides that after the investigation by the Child Protective Service Unit is complete, the State Board must notify the school district in which the home is located that the child is being home-schooled. Provides that once every 2 school years, the State Board must inspect the academic records of a registered home-school student. Amends the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act to require a Child Protective Service Unit to investigate the home of a child upon a request from the State Board. Effective immediately.

Currently, Illinois has no mandatory registration, no letter of intent, no standardized testing. Homeschoolers submit absolutely nothing to the state or local school boards. Bill HB 3560 if passed and allow to proceed would radically change the homeschool landscape and turn Illinois from a low regulated state to a highly regulated state overnight! Just like that!

It was unclear if registration would become mandatory with this bill, but it was very clear once registered homeschoolers would have to submit to home inspections carried out by DCFS/CPS and have to to have some kind of portfolio academic review with the school board. -- which would make record keeping mandatory too.

I keep records for MYSELF and I have no issue with keeping records in general, I think I should not have to submit those records to the state. It's not the state's business. My records for elementary/middle school is light -- I don't have anything official for those grades, but I have always blogged in some fashion for the years, mostly, so I have blog posts, pictures, and other some other things I have kept. So I always felt if needed, in a court of law, I would be okay. Now with high school, because I'm looking to do transcripts I have more complete records. However, that is all for myself and the transcripts would be given to those that need it based on my child's post-secondary education plans.

Putting the whole registration and record keeping to the side, the fact that a legislator thought to circumvent people's 4th amendment rights was a good thing is alarming! The 4th amendment is to protect you from searches without just cause. Homeschooling in and of itself is not reason enough to subject a family to home inspections and searches. As my friend Tina, Homeschool Resource Roadmap, said on my personal facebook profile subjecting families to CPS investigations and home inspections just because they homeschool is like saying we found a meth lab at this house and they own a white Toyota truck so everyone who owns a white Toyota trucks will have their homes searched for drugs.

If HB 3560 is tabled it will be tabled very early on in the process. Which is a good thing, the sooner the bill is squashed, especially when you don't support it, the better. Historically it seems bills are easier to squash when they are in the early process and within Illinois' First House vs when they make it to the Second House. This diagram shows how bills are passed in Illinois.

The "we are here" written on this diagram shows where Illinois HB 3560 shows where in the process the bill was/is at:

While the call from the advocacy groups is to keep a watchful eye, hang tight, and no need to contact your representative. I just want to end by saying if you feel convicted to contact your representatives about this OR any issue you should. You should contact your representative anytime there is any measure you oppose or support is being introduced. You should fill out witness slips when they become available if you state has witness slips for a way for you to officially record your position.

When you contact your representative be polite!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click on a link and purchase something. See our full disclosure policy for more details.