PeoriaStory

Peoria ACLU annual meeting

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

The ACLU of IL – Peoria Area Chapter’s 60th annual meeting on Tuesday, June 22 via Zoom, included the presentation of awards and the election of officers and directors for the next year.

Activist Sincere Williams presented brief remarks on Black Lives Matter and racial justice issues in Peoria.

Award Recipients

• The Sam Belfer Award was presented to Chris Schaffner for work with JOLT Harm Reduction.
• The David Citron Award was presented to Heather McMeekan for work in Macomb for social justice, and Ezra Collom for work on Black Lives Matter.

Election of Officers and Directors: all were elected.

• Officers: Kristen Meierkord, president; Anthony Reynolds, vice president; Cheryl Hofbauer, secretary; Ken Hofbauer, treasurer.
• Board members: Re-elected –Joyce Harant, Heather McMeekan, Ace Whitman, David Hoffman, Keri Hayes, all 2 year terms.
• New board nominees – Elaine Hopkins, Kathy Martin, Bill Poorman, 2 year terms; Jennifer Raines, Nancy Long, Dave Trachtenbarg, Ezra Collom, 1 year terms.

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Macomb, IL Police Abuse

MACOMB, ILLINOIS - From a news release:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-Jpz0vNFnI

 

This is a link to the Monday, April 19 Zoom press conference by the Racial Justice Coalition of the Democratic Women of McDonough County. It reveals the story of two recent victims of racial profiling, police brutality, 911 dispatcher misconduct, in a false arrest following a traffic stop for what would be considered a minor offense - an air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror and alleged failure to make a full and complete stop at a privately-owned stop sign before entering a public roadway.

After being racially profiled, hunted by MPD, then pulled over (for a pretext of a minor traffic violation), a two-time decorated war veteran and his wife are traumatized from being targeted to justify a stop with wavering pretext, then arrested. He was held for over 3 hours until he was able to post bail, and his wife was held without charges before being released over 20 hours later the next day.

They were given no apology or acknowledgment that they had been forcefully, unnecessarily, and illegally deprived of their freedom and subjected to humiliation, violence and lasting trauma at the hands of police. 

It is difficult not to see this story within the light of the conversations regarding racial justice ongoing in the country. Several elements match several stories of Black persons recently killed by police in other communities.

FOIA’d video/audio evidence confirms this law-abiding veteran and his wife were racially profiled, and hunted by at least three Macomb Police Officers as the couple were shopping for the Veteran’s birthday celebration. They were  stopped for an alleged minor violation, retaliated on for questioning the treatment they were receiving, taken into custody, threatened with brutality, and held in jail in violation of their rights, all the while fearing for their own lives, and given not even an acknowledgement of wrongdoing. That this couple is Black is not a minor detail, but the pretext upon which this series of civil, human, and constitutional rights were violated. 

We believe the video evidence alone is sufficiently compelling as to be very traumatizing for Black folx and other people of color. We urge all media to issue appropriate content warnings when discussing the facts and evidence of this case.

This is far from the only case of police harassment, intimidation, and violence in McDonough County in recent years. These incidents must be investigated by the press, so the silent terror by which many People of Color live their lives under the shadow of police violence can be given a voice. 

We call for these officers and 911 Dispatchers to be suspended IMMEDIATELY pending an investigation by federal or state authorities outside of McDonough County.

Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/765678847649742/ 

 

Slideshow: 

 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1T8648VF1Amy84hPif5SH_Ni3U_-0j5kRcAZ1UyhhaKY/edit

Further questions can be sent to: [email protected] 

Signed,

Heather McMeekan, President

The Democratic Women of McDonough County

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Peoria sued for $100 million

PEORIA, IL -- The city of Peoria is being sued for $100 million over the Cleve Heidelberg case, where an innocent man was sent to prison from fabricated evidence, allegedly.

Here's the story from the Community Word.

And here's the Journal Star's account of the lawsuit.

How can the city afford those apartments in Riverfront Park with this case pending, and the hotel debacle?

Just asking...

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Great speech, great subject

CHICAGO, IL -- Here is a transcript of remarks from Colleen Connell, executive director of the Illinois ACLU, at a recent luncheon:

Remarks of Colleen Connell

2018 ACLU Lunch

March 23, 2018

        GOOD AFTERNOON. 

            ONE YEAR AGO, I STOOD IN THIS SPOT AND DECLARED THAT DONALD TRUMP PRESENTED AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY. THE PAST 14 MONTHS HAVE PROVED THAT STATEMENT TRUE.

        IN RESPONSE, THE ACLU HAS PROVED FAITHFUL TO OUR MISSION AND OUR PROMISE THAT WE WOULD “SEE THE PRESIDENT IN COURT.” NATIONWIDE, WE HAVE FILED MORE THAN 100 ACTIONS CHALLENGING VIOLATIONS OF CORE CIVIL LIBERTIES.  

                                                                        * * *

        LAST YEAR,  IT WAS EASY TO VERBALIZE OUR COLLECTIVE OUTRAGE AND OUR COMMITMENT TO RESIST THE EMERGING ATTACKS ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS, LGBTQ RIGHTS, PEOPLE OF COLOR, AND IMMIGRANTS – TO NAME BUT A FEW.  

            THIS YEAR IS MORE DIFFICULT.  THE PROBLEM WE FACE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF THE ATTACKS ON INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES. 

            THE PROBLEM WE FACE IS TRANSCENDANTAL AND REFLECTS THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S ATTACK ON THE RULE OF LAW – THE ESSENTIAL STRUCTURE OF OUR CONSTITUTION. 

            THE PROBLEM STARTS AT THE TOP.  DEMANDS OF PERSONAL LOYALTY FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT, ATTEMPTS TO WEAPONIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AGAINST PERSONAL AND POLITICAL FOES, A PRESIDENTIAL INQUISITION ABOUT WHETHER A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE, VOTED FOR DONALD TRUMP. THESE ACTS ARE UNACCEPTABLE IN OUR DEMOCRACY.

            EACH OF US IS HERE TODAY BECAUSE WE RECOGNIZE THIS ESSENTIAL TRUTH:  THAT WE NEED TO FIGHT AND WIN THE SAME EPIC BATTLE WHICH LINCOLN EMBRACED IN HIS FIRST INAUGUARAL ADDRESS: “TO PRESERVE, PROTECT, AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.”

        THESE LARGER THREATS, ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF OUR SYSTEM, DEMAND THAT WE INTENSIFY OUR RESISTANCE. TO PARAPHRASE DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING:  THE TRUE MEASURE OF A PERSON IS NOT WHERE YOU STAND AT MOMENTS OF COMFORT AND CONVENIENCE. THE TRUE MEASURE IS WHERE YOU STAND AT MOMENTS OF CHALLENGE AND CONTROVERSY. 

            MANY OF US, PERSONALLY, ARE PRIVILEGED WITH LIVES OF COMFORT.   AS WHITE, PROFESSIONAL, CIS-GENDER, OR MALE, WE MAY NOT BE AMONG THE GROUPS SPECIFICALLY TARGETED OVER THE PAST 14 MONTHS. 

            AND, WE LIVE IN A CITY AND A STATE WHERE MANY OF OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS HAVE RESISTED THE WORST OF THE TRUMP AGENDA. 

            THIS PRIVILEGE OF STATUS AND COMFORT DOES NOT GIVE ANY OF US A PASS.  THIS PRIVILEGE DEMANDS THAT EACH OF US STAND COURAGEOUS AND TALL IN THESE TIMES OF GREAT CHALLENGE AND CONTROVERSY. 

            AND, THE COURAGE WE DEMAND OF OURSELVES WE ALSO MUST DEMAND OF OUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS AT ALL LEVELS AND IN ALL POLITICAL PARTIES.  

            WE MUST EXHIBIT THIS COURAGE AND DO ALL WE CAN, USE ALL TOOLS AVAILABLE, TO PROTECT THOSE SPECIFICALLY TARGETED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.

             ALTHOUGH WE CANNOT IMMEDIATELY REVERSE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT POLICIES,  WE CAN TAKE THE ESSENTIAL STEP OF INSISTING THAT ALL MEMBERS OF THE ILLINOIS CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION SUPPORT A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP FOR DREAMERS.

            WE CANNOT,  AT LEAST TODAY,  REPEAL THE ANTI-LGBTQ POLICIES ADOPTED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.

            HOWEVER, WE CAN AND MUST INSIST THAT LOCAL SCHOOL OFFICIALS ABIDE BY THE ILLINOIS HUMAN RIGHTS ACT AND ALLOW STUDENTS WHO ARE TRANSGENDER TO USE LOCKER-ROOMS AND RESTROOMS CONSISTENT WITH THEIR GENDER IDENTITY.

            WE CANNOT, AT LEAST TODAY, STOP DONALD TRUMP AND JEFF SESSIONS FROM RE-LAUNCHING THE WAR ON DRUGS – WHICH UNFAIRLY AND DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPRISONED PEOPLE OF COLOR.

            WE CAN, HOWEVER, INSIST THAT ILLINOIS ADOPT SMART JUSTICE POLICIES.  WE CAN START THIS PROCESS BY LEGALIZING, REGULATING, AND TAXING MARIJUANA IN OUR STATE.

            OUR RESISTANCE, BEGINS -- BUT CANNOT END -- WITH OUR DEFENSE OF THE MOST VULNERABLE AMONG US.  WE MUST ALSO VIGOROUSLY DEFEND THE CONSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE ITSELF.  WE MUST RESIST TRUMP’S ATTEMPTS TO ERODE THE RULE OF LAW, WHICH WAS THE CATALYST OF OUR REVOLUTION AGAINST A MONARCH --  AND IS-- THE BEDROCK OF OUR CONSTITUTION.  // // FAILURE TO RESIST WILL SPELL THE DEATH KNELL OF OUR DEMOCRACY.

                                    ///   ////   //// 

WE, THE PEOPLE, -- ALL THE PEOPLE – MUST INSIST THAT CONGRESS ACT AS THE SEPARATE, EQUAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT THAT THE FRAMERS INTENDED.  WE MUST INSIST THAT CONGRESS PERFORM ITS APPROPRIATE OVERSIGHT ROLE – ASSERTING THE CHECKS AND BALANCES ON PRESIDENTIAL POWER THAT ARE THE HALLMARK OF OUR SYSTEM OF LIMITED GOVERNMENT. 

EFFORTS TO SUBJUGATE THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND COMPEL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PROSECUTE POLITICAL OPPONENTS MUST BE RESISTED. 

CALLS TO FIRE PUBLIC OFFICIALS – ESPECIALLY WHEN THE PURPOSE OF THE FIRING MAY BE TO DISCREDIT THEM AS WITNESSES – OR TO CHILL OTHER WITNESSES FROM STEPPING FORWARD – MUST BE RESISTED. 

LOYALTY OATHS FOR FEDERAL OFFICIALS – INCLUDING NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS – AND EFFORTS TO COW AND CONTROL FEDERAL PROSECUTORS MUST BE RESISTED. 

WE MUST ALSO INSIST THAT CONGRESS PROVIDE MEANINGFUL OVERSIGHT OF THE PRESIDENT, HIS FAMILY, AND OTHERS WHEN IT COMES TO BUSINESS CONFLICTS AND VIOLATIONS OF THE EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE.  

THIS IS THE ESSENTIAL JOB OF THE CONGRESS. AND WHEN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ARE NOT WILLING TO PROTECT OUR SYSTEM OF JUSTICE AND THE RULE OF LAW, WE THE PEOPLE MUST CONFRONT THOSE MEMBERS AND DEMAND BETTER.

MAKE NO MISTAKE:  OUR NATIONAL RESOLVE IS BEING TESTED.  WE ARE BEING TESTED TO SEE IF WE HAVE THE FORTITUDE TO RESIST THOSE WHO WOULD DRAG US BACK TO BYGONE ERAS. 

WE ARE BEING TESTED TO SEE IF WE CAN UNITE IN THE BASIC HUMAN DECENCY THAT DEMANDS LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, REGARDLESS OF RACE, CREED, GENDER, OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION.

MOST PROFOUNDLY, OUR COMMITMENT TO UNIVERSAL LIBERTY AS THE SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH – THE AMERICAN IDEAL -- IS BEING TESTED BY THOSE WHO ASSERT THAT RESTRICTING RIGHTS TO A SELCT FEW  WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. 

WE BELIEVE OUR DEFENSE OF FREEDOM MUST BE INCLUSIVE; IT MUST EMBODY FREEDOM FOR ALL.   LET US NURTURE THE RESISTANCE THAT IS IN THIS ROOM, THAT IS IN THIS STATE AND IN THIS NATION. 

ONLY OUR VIGILANT RESISTANCE WILL ENSURE THAT OUR CONSTITUTION CONTINUES TO ENDURE AND PROTECT THE VALUES WE HOLDS MOST DEAR: //// LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. 

*** 

 

Racial justice? Maybe not

PEORIA, IL -- Century-old racial bias in the United States continues to influence laws and the justice system, and must be confronted, Ed Yohnka of the Illinois ACLU told a Greater Peoria League of Women Voters audience on April 12.

Yohnka, the Director of Communication and Public Policy for the organization of 72,000 members in Illinois, spoke at the League’s annual dinner, held at Childer’s Banquet Center in Peoria. His topic was “Racial Justice and Police Practices in Illinois.” He relied on shocking statistics to support his contention of long-held racial bias:

“When you think about the work our nation does, it’s amazing how much comes back to race,” he said. For example, in the criminal justice system:

• 71 percent of all “street stops” also known as “stop and frisk” stops, involve African Americans in Chicago, where they are only 32 percent of the population. It can be “humiliating and degrading,” for them, he said.

• African Americans are twice as likely as whites to be stopped for minor infractions while driving a car, even though all drivers speed at times, change lanes without signaling. “These stops reflect who is targeted,” he said, “not who is breaking the law.”

• African Americans are three times more likely to be asked to consent to a search of the car, even though whites are five or six times more likely to have contraband in the car.

• Arrests for use of marijuana are eight times more likely for African Americans, though all people use it at the same rates, he said. “We treat the same offense differently because of race.”

• Prosecutors charge people because of race. Of 1,000 youthful offenders transferred to adult court, 95 percent were people of color, he said.

The prison statistics reflect racial bias. The inmate population is overwhelmingly African American in numbers 10 times greater than whites, he said. “Who we target, arrest and prosecute” results in these statistics, he said.

“This isn’t a shock to African Americans, he said.  “We are undermining our system of justice in communities of color.”

“The old politics of being tough on crime” should be rejected, Yohnka said, because it’s ‘code’ for being tough on people of color. “We have to start by demanding that elected officials stop reacting” to the latest outrage, leading to bad policies.

Community policing should be a top priority everywhere, he said. “All of us are safer when everyone is safe.”

Yohnka answered questions, including one about “black on black crime.”  He responded that most crime takes place among people who know each other. 

Black communities have historically been deprived of resources, including education, jobs, and housing, he said, leading to crime from desperation. In Chicago most crime is confined to small areas. “We need to recognize that crime is a symptom” of problems in the larger society of unequal treatment, he said.  

Mandatory sentences, long sentences, lack of programs to help those released from prison, all create problems of injustice, he said.  In Europe, the maximum sentence is 20 years, and most offenders receive intense services to keep them out of prison.

“We need to acknowledge our own bias, and how it drives policies that don’t serve our communities,” he said. “Democracy only works if all of us work together, and we all have a role to play.  For too long we let politicians and demagogues separate us.  But we will never change until all people feel like they are included and treated equally.”

Here is a recording of his talk:

Download ACLU Yohnka 2018

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Dying with dignity

PEORIA, IL -- The Final Options Illinois group, supporting death with dignity/aid in dying/physician assisted death, hopes to make the process legal in Illinois after the 2018 election.

The group presented a film, "How to Die in Oregon," followed by a discussion at the North Branch of the Peoria Public Library on Sept. 24, an event that attracted about 30 people.

The two-hour film was too long, and like most documentaries could have been cut to an hour or so.  But it was compelling.

Final Options Illinois states "mentally competent adults, suffering intolerably at end of life should have the legal right to an easy, hastened death, and their doctors and loved ones should have the right to help them."

Several states and Canada have passed laws based on the Oregon model, and Illinois should also do so, said Ed Gogol, president of Final Options Illinois.

The group is in a coalition with the American Civil Liberties Union, advocating for the law, he said. Aside from Chicago,  Urbana has a chapter, and Peoria should also have one, he said, taking names and information at the meeting.

There are now 2,500 members in Illinois, he said. By using the law, the death is not legally a suicide, he said.

A physician at the meeting, Dr. Steve Smart, said he is opposed, and said the local, state and national medical societies oppose the law.  "This is physician assisted suicide," he said.

Nationally more than half of doctors favor the law, Gogol said.

There have been no cases of abuse or coercion in Oregon, he said. About half who access the prescribed medication, usually Seconal, actually take it to end their suffering, he said. Under the law they must be mentally capable adults and able to say 'yes' to a doctor on the day they decide to die. 

Anyone can join Final Options Illinois by sending a donation, he said. There are no dues. The best national group is Compassion in Choices, he said.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Heidleberg case continues...

PEORIA, IL -- The Cleve Heidelberg case has taken a new twist, as reported by the Community Word.

Check this out: http://thecommunityword.com/online/cwnotes/2017/04/22/state-prison-kicks-out-cleve-heidelberg/

Be sure to read my comment.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

ACLU letter to federal clinics in Peoria on women's reproductive health

PEORIA, IL -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois has sent a letter to the federal Heartland clinics in Peoria regarding their lack of reproductive health services to women. It is posted below,

In short, only one of the four clinics provides birth control to women because of the Catholic hospital's influence over them.  The hospital, OSF St. Francis Medical Center, leases the buildings to Heartland, and the leases forbid birth control prescriptions.

This is outrageous -- that superstition (religion is superstition) controls women's health care.

Peoria has high rates of teen pregnancy and STDs, and the low income women who come to these clinics need birth control prescriptions. To get them, they are sent to one of the clinics in its limited hours.  Ridiculous.

Here's the complete letter and investigation results:

Enclosure: Summary of Preliminary Findings, Concerns, and Recommendations from Investigation of Heartland Health Services
Heartland Health Services (“Heartland”) is a Federally Qualified Health Center (“FQHC”), which operates four clinics and a behavioral health center in Peoria, Illinois. Heartland receives federal taxpayer funding to provide the full range of basic, preventative health care to Peoria’s medically underserved communities. However, because some of Heartland’s clinic locations lease space from a Catholic health care provider in the community, they operate under religious directives, which restrict patient access to birth control and other services.
The ACLU of Illinois began investigating the relationship between Heartland and OSF in late 2015 after concerns were raised by members of the Peoria community regarding access to certain reproductive health care services, including birth control, at the clinics. We submitted a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”), seeking information about the scope of services provided at the Heartland clinics. We also gathered information through meetings with Heartland representatives and community members. Our preliminary findings from this investigation raise a range of significant concerns, which are discussed below.
1. Heartland is bound by religious restriction in lease agreements with OSF, which severely limit its ability to provide birth control to its patients.
The documents we received in response to our FOIA request revealed that Heartland previously entered into a clinic affiliation agreement, as well as a Lease of Staff agreement, with OSF Saint Francis Medical Center (“OSF”).1 The Lease of Staff agreement required Heartland to provide a staff orientation covering its policies and procedures, standards, and practices, “recognizing that Staff will comply with the ‘Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services’ [ERDs] as interpreted and applied to OSF.” 2 The ERDs are broad religious directives that forbid or severely restrict critical health care services.3 Directive 52 states that “Catholic health institutions may not promote or condone contraceptive practices. . .”4 Some religious health systems also restrict the information and referrals that health care providers are allowed to give to patients.
Given the broad scope of the ERDs, this agreement raised concerns and questions about the extent of Heartland’s ongoing relationship with OSF and the impact that relationship had on patient care. For that reason, we sent a letter to Heartland in October 2016 raising our concerns and posing questions about its scope of services and affiliation with OSF. In response, Heartland confirmed that it operates two out of its clinic locations on property owned by OSF – one on Garden Street
1 Heartland Application Submitted to HRSA on April 3, 2013, Attachment 7: Summary of Contracts and Lease of OSF Staff Agreement Summary (“Lease of Staff Agreement Summary”); Heartland Application for Federal Assistance Submitted to HRSA on August 8, 2005, Form 8: Health Center Affiliation Certification.
2 Lease of Staff Agreement Summary.
3 See United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, 5th Ed. (Nov. 17, 2009), available at http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/health-care/upload/Ethical-Religious-Directives-Catholic-Health-Care-Services-fifth-edition-2009.pdf (last visited February 14, 2017).
4 Id. at Directive 52.
2
and another on Armstrong Avenue. As a result, it is bound by the terms of lease agreements, which prevent Heartland staff at these locations from offering birth control.5 Instead of obtaining birth control prescriptions at these locations, patients are referred to Heartland’s East Bluff clinic.
Heartland has maintained that this referral arrangement does not impede patient access or care. However, we have since gathered additional information raising ongoing concerns about the availability of contraception for some Heartland patients. Individuals who have called Heartland clinics and spoken with Heartland representatives report being told that the only Heartland clinic that offers birth control prescriptions – the East Bluff clinic – makes them available to patients only once a week – between 1pm and 3pm on Thursdays. Such restricted hours and locations undoubtedly makes accessing birth control logistically impossible for many Heartland patients. Indeed, in the course of our investigation, we were told of a patient who was denied a prescription for birth control at the clinic nearest to her home, was unable to get to the East Bluff clinic on a Thursday afternoon, and experienced an unintended pregnancy.
2. These restrictions are likely exacerbating persistently high rates of teen birth – particularly for the low-income, African Americans in the Peoria community.
Heartland’s primary clinic location is on Garden Street in Peoria’s 61605 neighborhood. This clinic is one of the two locations that operates on OSF property and is thus bound by the terms of lease agreements preventing Heartland staff from prescribing birth control. As a result, the patients living in this neighborhood and seeking birth control have to take time off work or school to make the trip to the East Bluff clinic on a Thursday afternoon between 1 and 3pm. For low-income Peorians that rely on public transportation, this trip takes 30-50 minutes and involves two busses and a transfer at the downtown transit station.6 Beyond creating an inconvenience, this likely makes it impossible for many patients to actually access birth control.
In addition, since the 61605 neighborhood is predominately African-American,7 restricting birth control in this community is likely exacerbating existing disproportionately high rates of teen births among African Americans. The Peoria City/County Health Department has noted that births to women under 18 years of age in Peoria are 5.6 times greater among African-American teens than
5 In the original lease of staff agreement, some Heartland staff were bound to comply with the full scope of the ERDs. However, Heartland has since represented to us that the restrictions in the current lease agreements with OSF only prevent its health care providers from offering birth control prescriptions at the properties owned by OSF.
6 Google Maps Directions from Heartland Garden Street to Heartland East Bluff Clinic via Public Transportation, available at https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Heartland+Community+Health+Clinic,+1701+W+Garden+St,+Peoria,+IL+61605/Heartland+Community+Health+Clinic,+North+Wisconsin+Avenue,+Peoria,+IL/@40.695157,-89.6109298,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x880a592974752a45:0x4a320939c48a6058!2m2!1d-89.6198561!2d40.6763898!1m5!1m1!1s0x880a5a2a63c99439:0xeff31abbf5b3a5f2!2m2!1d-89.5852661!2d40.716185!3e3 (last visited February 14, 2017).
762 percent of the population of the 60615 community identifies as Black or African American. This is significantly higher than the percent of the city or county population identifying as Black or African American—26.9 percent and 17.7 percent, respectively. U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder Community Facts (2010), available at https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml (last visited February 14, 2017).
3
White teens.8 It has further explained that the high rates of teen pregnancy in Peoria have been shown to contribute to a range of other adverse outcomes “such as prematurity, low birthweight, and infant mortality.”9 These teen pregnancy rates are also associated with decreased quality of life for both parents and children, especially in the areas of health, education, employment and psychosocial well-being.10
Peoria’s teen birth rates are significantly higher than the statewide average.11 For this reason, the 2016-2019 Community Health Improvement Plan for the region identified the public health goal of “[r]educ[ing] pregnancies among adolescent females aged 15-19 years by 10% by 2019.”12 The first strategy towards achieving this goal is listed in the report as increasing preconception care and contraception access, and both OSF and Heartland are identified as community partners in the ongoing implementation process.13 Obviously, by restricting access to birth control in a neighborhood with the greatest need, OSF and Heartland cannot serve as effective partners in advancing the public health goals identified in the Community Health Improvement Plan.
3. Heartland’s referral arrangements with OSF, if still in effect, likely place people with complicated pregnancies and in need of tubal ligations at serious risk of harm.
Beyond the restrictions on birth control access, the FOIA responses revealed that Heartland previously entered into troubling referral arrangements with OSF. The responsive documents included a Healthcare Plan, which states that all patients with “high risk pregnancies” are to be referred to OSF, and that all patients needing a “tubal ligation” are to be referred to one of two facilities, including OSF.14 If this arrangement with OSF still exists, Heartland is putting its patients at risk for the denial of essential health care. As noted above, OSF is a Catholic health care facility, which follows the ERDs – directives which restrict a range of services, including sterilization and abortion, even when a woman’s health or life is jeopardized by continuing the pregnancy.15
8 Peoria City/County Health Department, Peoria County Community Health Needs Assessment & Plan (2011-2016), 49, available at http://www.peoriacounty.org/download/?path=%2Fpcchd%2FIPLAN_MAPP%2FIPLAN_July2011_MainDocument.pdf (last visited February 14, 2017).
9 Id.
10 Id.
11 Community Health Needs Assessment 2016: Tri-County Region (Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford County), 17, available at http://www.peoriacounty.org/download?path=/pcchd/IPLAN_MAPP/Tri+County+CHNA+2016+-+TCR.pdf (last visited February 14, 2017).
12 Partnership for a Health Community, Community Health Improvement Plan for the Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford Tri-County region. (2016-2019), 28, available at http://www.peoriacounty.org/download?path=/pcchd/IPLAN_MAPP/Partnership+for+a+Healthy+Community+CHA-CHIP.pdf (last visited February 14, 2017).
13 Id. at 28-30.
14Heartland Application for Federal Assistance Submitted to HRSA on August 8, 2005, Healthcare Plan Update.
15 Directive 53 states that “[d]irect sterilization of either men or women, whether permanent or temporary, is not permitted in a Catholic health care institution…” Directive 45 states that “[a]bortion (that is, the directly intended termination of pregnancy before viability or the directly intended destruction of a viable fetus) is never permitted.” Note
4
While there is variation as to how Catholic hospitals implement the Directives, there are many instances in which Catholic hospitals comply by prohibiting their physicians from performing an abortion or sterilization even when this denial of care puts a patient at serious risk. Indeed, countless women – in Illinois and throughout the country – have had necessary health care delayed or denied because of their health care provider’s compliance with the Directives.16
4. The OSF restrictions may violate Heartland’s obligation to provide comprehensive and non-discriminatory primary care health services to the community.
Heartland is a community health center that relies on federal assistance to provide comprehensive primary health care services to a medically underserved population. FQHCs like Heartland are obligated to provide all required services directly or through contracts or formal written referral arrangements, and must make services available to all residents of the health center’s service area, regardless of the individual’s ability to pay.17 The specific amount of services may vary based on a number of factors, including the population served, demonstrated unmet need, provider staffing, and/or collaborative arrangements. However, regardless of the arrangement a FQHC uses to provide services through partnerships or referrals, it still has an obligation to ensure that all residents in its service areas receive prompt access to all required healthcare services.18
Among the primary and preventive health services health centers are required to provide are obstetrics, gynecology, and voluntary family planning services.19 As HRSA has emphasized, “[e]nsuring access to family planning services [at federally qualified health centers], including access to the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive methods, is an important strategy to help reduce unplanned pregnancy.”20 This is important care to be made available at clinics that serve medically
that the ERDs do permit “indirect abortion” (meaning treatment with the “direct purpose the cure of a proportionately serious pathological condition of a pregnant woman . . . even if [it] will result in the death of the unborn child.”) However, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has clarified this does not encompass circumstances in which an abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life. Directive 47, at 26; U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Distinction Between Direct Abortion and Legitimate Medical Procedures, 1–2 (2010), available at http://www.usccb.org/about/doctrine/publications/upload/direct-abortion-statement2010-06-23.pdf.
16 See American Civil Liberties Union, Health Care Denied: Patients and Physicians Speak Out About Catholic Hospitals and the Threat to Women’s Health and Lives (May 2016), 7-21, available at https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/healthcaredenied.pdf; Catholics for Choice, Is Your Health Compromised: How the Catholic Directives Make for Unhealthy Choices (2017), 9-13, available at http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017_Catholic-Healthcare-Report.pdf.
17 See 42 U.S.C. § 254b(a)(1); 42 CFR §51c.102(c)(1); About the Health Center Program, U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Services Bureau of Primary Health Care, available at https://bphc.hrsa.gov/about/what-is-a-health-center/index.html (last visited February 14, 2017).
18 See 42 U.S.C. § 254b(k)(3)(A); (j)(i); 42 CFR §51c.303; Service Descriptors, U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Services Bureau of Primary Health Care, 1 available at https://bphc.hrsa.gov/about/requirements/scope/form5aservicedescriptors.pdf (All patients must have “reasonable access to the full complement of services offered by the center as a whole”).
19 See 42 U.S.C. § 254b(1)(A); 42 CFR §51c102(h).
20 Family Planning and Related Services in Health Centers, Health Resources and Services Administration Technical Assistance Resource (June 14, 2016), 2 available at http://bphc.hrsa.gov/qualityimprovement/pdf/familyplanningservices.pdf (last visited February 14, 2017).
5
underserved populations, as HRSA noted, in part because “[u]nplanned pregnancy rates are disproportionately higher in certain vulnerable populations including women living below the poverty line; young women aged 18-24 years, and Black and Hispanic women.”21
The FQHC regulations also require that the services provided by FQHCs will not be provided in a manner that is discriminatory.22 Heartland is also obligated to comply with Section 1557 of the federal Affordable Care Act as well as the non-discrimination provisions of the Illinois Human Rights Act, both of which prohibit it from providing services in a manner that discriminates on the basis of race or sex.23
As discussed above, the findings of our investigation reveal that Heartland is not providing comprehensive access to family planning services at its clinics. While the FQHC regulations permit it to provide services through arrangements and referrals, it is still obligated to do so in a manner that is effective at ensuring access for patients, meets the needs of the medically underserved community, and does not discriminate against any protected groups.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
The ACLU of Illinois’ investigation into the restrictions OSF has placed on access to essential health care in the community it serves has revealed that these restrictions are likely having ongoing, harmful effects on Peoria residents – with a particular focus on low-income, African American women in Peoria’s 61605 neighborhood. To protect patients and further the identified public health goals of the community, the religious restrictions should be removed. This could be achieved either by renegotiating lease agreements with OSF that do not include the restrictions birth control or by ending the affiliation with OSF – and affiliating, instead, with a provider or entity that does not insist on including harmful restrictions on health care provision in its lease terms.
In the interim, there are several steps Heartland should take to protect and expand patient care. First, it should provide contraceptive care – including access to emergency contraception – at all locations not affiliated with OSF and should significantly expand the hours during which it provides birth control at those locations. It should also train its staff to ensure that patients who call the clinic seeking birth control will be provided with comprehensive information about their options for accessing birth control, including at clinics close to their homes, and assistance in the process of accessing this care. Finally, it should take steps to ensure that its referral arrangements do not place women with complicated pregnancies or in need of tubal ligations at risk of harm. It should ensure that these women are referred or transferred to health care providers that are not bound by religious restrictions, and are thus able to provide comprehensive information and care.
21 Id.
22 See 42 CFR § 51c.109. The FQHC regulations further incorporate the “requirements of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, along with a regulation implementing title VI.” Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. 42 U.S.C. § 2000d.
23 See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act § 1557, 42 U.S.C.A. § 18116; 775 ILCS 5/5-102(A); 1-103(Q

 

 

Amazing turnout

PEORIA, IL -- The amazing pro-choice turnout on Feb. 11 was inspiring.  It's great to see so many care about abortion rights.  At least 200 or more lined both sides of Knoxville at the Planned Parenthood office.

Anti-choice demonstrators numbered about a dozen!

Clare Howard of the Community Word wrote a terrific story with photos.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Reforming Illinois prisons

PEORIA, IL -- John Baldwin left retirement to reform Illinois prisons.

Baldwin, the new head of the Illinois Department of Corrections, described his plans for reform to the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria in a dinner meeting on April 7.

"The Illinois Department of Corrections is going to change dramatically in the next few years," he said, adding it needs better results.

"We are going to measure outcomes," he said. "Now we're going to know which programs work and which don't."

John Baldwin at the April 7 event. Photo by Al Harkrader.

Here is a recording of his talk.  

Download Baldwin

Baldwin was the director of the Iowa Department of Corrections for eight years.  Now he oversees the 35 state prisons, work camps and transition centers in Illinois, with 45,000 inmates.

He said there is a lot of work to be done in Illinois.  He cited the Illinois recidivism rate of 47.1 percent, way above the national average of 35 percent of inmates who are soon back in prison after release. 

He mentioned the large numbers of mentally ill prisoners, and said they need and deserve treatment.  Several prisons will be converted into facilities that can treat them with proven types of therapy, he said.

Republican Gov. Bruce wants these reforms, he said, and has budgeted an 8.1  percent increase in the department's $1.3 billion budget next year, solely for the increased treatment of the mentally ill.

The DOC's 11,500 staff members will all receive two days of training in how to interact with the mentally ill, he said, from NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. 

The various treatment plans used in the prisons will be studied by a team at Southern Illinois University to see what works, he said.

Contracts for programs will be rewritten and enforced, he said, "which I discovered was not always the case."

The DOC will be hiring 375 mental health workers in the next fiscal year, he said.

Better treatment will increase safety, he said, since 80 percent of staff assaults are done by mentally ill offenders. "We can reduce those with more therapy."  

Baldwin said, "we will change how we hire correctional officers."  They are roll models to inmates, many of whom never learned basic skills of socialization. "They think it's acceptable to beat their significant other.  This is behavior we have to modify." He plans a "life skills" prison, he said.

For women inmates especially, he said, "the male officer may be the first positive roll model they have ever seen."

New computer systems are being installed, for efficiency and so officers can know more about the inmates they are dealing with, he said.  When he arrived last August 2015, he said, officers were still using obsolete typewriters and green screen computers, and typing names over and over and over."On December 14, we went from the stone age to the cloud."

Many inmates lack basic skills such as reading and math, and these will be taught, he said.  Community work programs will be instituted, so inmates can work in the community, be paid the prevailing wage, gain skills and have savings for when they are released, he said.  Then they can rent a place to live.  Those without shelter soon are sent back to prison, he said.

In other states, the recidivism rate for those in these programs falls, he said.

"We need to expand opportunities for well paid jobs," for those released from prison, another way to lower the recidivism statistics.

These new approaches for offenders are more humane and increase safety inside and outside the prisons, he said. They may take a few years to be successfully implemented, but they have succeeded elsewhere, he said.

Even if there are a few well publicized failures, the overall results should outweigh the risks, he said.

Asked whether he supports private prisons, he said he did not.  They end up costing the taxpayers more in the long run, he said.

The state "should not give up the responsibility to treat and house the people it sends" to prison, he said. 

He mentioned the Illinois Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform which has released recommendations that can be part of reform efforts.  Some of these, such as providing inmates a free identification card when they are released from prison, cost little and can help the person survive in the outside world.

Illinois once had a model prison system and can have that again, Baldwin said, afterwards. The governor wants that, Baldwin said, adding he agreed to leave retirement to pursue that goal. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

UPDATE May 20, 2016:  Here is a story that ran on NPR stating Baldwin is an acting director, as his appointment has not yet been approved by the Illinois Senate.