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Abortion trigger laws have gone into effect in Tennessee, Texas, and Idaho as of Thursday August 25th. Eleven states have now banned abortion since Roe v Wade was overturned in June.

1 in 3 women between the ages of 15 and 44 have lost safe access to abortion.

More restrictions are coming.

Are you asking yourself what you can do?

Join our Abortion Rights Working Group

West Suburban Illinois DSA has an Abortion Rights Working Group and we need you to get involved.

The working group meets at 12 pm on the first and third Sunday of every month. Join us for our next meeting on Sunday, September 4th.

Click here now to register via Zoom

And don’t forget to join us on Slack - stay in the loop and take part in the convo between meetings.

Coalition Activity:

We have been organizing over the last few months with the Chicago DSA Soc Fems Working Group, and Chicago For Abortion Rights (CFAR).

In solidarity with the National Women’s March, CFAR is planning a coalition rally on October 8th at Federal Plaza (permit pending) in Chicago. A planning session is scheduled for September 7th at 6 PM for coalition partners to develop the platform further. Stay tuned for updates.

What You Can Do Immediately:

• TODAY 8/26/22, 6 pm, Chicago City Hall (121 N La Salle St) Rally for Abortion Rights on Women’s Equality Day, hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
  

• The ACLU has been hosting training sessions focused on legislative and state strategy. Below is a link to sign up, and recordings of their last sessions:

ACLU State Strategy for Protecting Abortion Access

Training Livestream Vod 08/9

Training Livestream Vod 08/23

• The ACLU also has a texting tool to rally constituents in other states to oppose restrictions and support protections. Sign up for that tool at the link below:

Text Banking for State Strategy

Additional Updates:

While we act in solidarity with those impacted in other states, we are also dedicated to further securing abortion rights at home in Illinois.

Carolyn Leigh (WSILDSA member and activist) and Nathan Sheppard (WSILDSA admin) met with a lawyer who supports progressives in Chicago. They discussed a ballot measure to codify abortion rights into the IL Constitution. Due to the nature of the State Constitution, ballot measures must first be introduced and voted upon by the State Legislature. Governor Pritzker floated the idea of calling a special session this summer to introduce a measure for the Nov. 8 ballot. Unfortunately, this did not occur, meaning the next time it can go to the ballot is November 2024.

This DOES NOT mean our time is up. Legislative measures have to be introduced in the State Legislature by the end of January each year in order to be considered and voted upon by the Assembly. We will start applying pressure to the State Legislature. We will push them to introduce an amendment to the IL Constitution in January 2023 to be voted on by state residents in November 2024. It might seem like a long way away, but strong grassroots organizing leads to amendments like this passing.

In the meantime, the most important thing we can do is make sure Illinois Supreme Court Justice Candidates - that will protect abortion rights - are elected in November 2022.

Some ideas that have been mentioned for impactful activism are:

• Hosting a Teach-in on Legislative Strategy

• Door-knocking for IL Supreme Court Candidates

• Petitions to State Legislators and Leaders

• Protests outside of Chris Welch’s home/office (IL Speaker of the House)

• Table flyering and stickering

• Pop-up/Street Protest

What are your ideas?

There is strength in numbers. Please join us in deciding where we direct our chapter’s action. We look forward to seeing you at our next Abortion Rights Working Group meeting on September 4th!

In Solidarity,

Sean Rowe and Carolyn Leigh