Moments ago, the Illinois House of Representatives failed to pass House Bill 3156, a measure that sought to regulate access to abortion services in Illinois out of existence.
The ACLU of Illinois opposed this measure throughout the legislative session -- including holding rallies in Springfield (when the measure was considered before the House Agricultural Committee) and in Naperville (in front of the sponsor's office).

The measure was drafted by anti-abortion zealots who have never been involved in protecting women's health care, but rather have been devoted for some time to ending all abortion in the State of Illinois.   We will continue to monitor the situation in the event that the measure is raised again during the remaining days of the legislative session.
The ACLU of Illinois has been fighting to defeat this bill over the last few months.

We protested and testified twice when the bill was delegated to the House Agricultural Committee. ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell made our opposition heard. The ACLU also rallied twice - once in Springfield and once in Naperville to bring attention to this damaging bill and its sponsor.

In the photos that accompany an article in the Forrest Park Review Wednesday, Belinda Sanchez, a lesbian student at Proviso East High School, is seen smiling and fitting into a white tuxedo. But, a few weeks ago, that was only a dream.

The eighteen-year-old high-school senior had approached her principal, Milton Patch, to tell him about her choice of attire, but Patch rebuffed her request. He said it would make her a "sideshow" at "his prom," according to Sanchez. What's more, said Sanchez, Patch told her that girls "are supposed to wear things that are more revealing."

"I told him, 'I don't feel comfortable wearing a dress because that's not who I am,'" Sanchez said. "Pretty much he shut me down."

Sanchez emailed Proviso District 209 Superintendent Nettie Collins-Hart and received no response, so she called the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU-IL) for help. ACLU lawyers sent a letter to the school district on March 30, and the district overruled Patch the following day. D209 officials denied that the ACLU's involvement had any impact on its decision.

"I think there is a reality that a school district probably pays more heed when it gets a letter from a lawyer than when a student raises a question. I'd say that's sort of a shame," said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for ACLU-IL. "Schools are insular places by their very nature, and sometimes there needs to be that little continued push from the outside to help make that substantial change."

Yohnka said the reply the ACLU-IL received from the district explicitly states that Sanchez can wear clothes of the opposite gender, but the district's policy on the matter is not specifically outlined in its code of conduct or the district's prom review policy.

"Our Constitution says you should be able to express yourself, with freedom of speech and the First Amendment, so why shouldn't it be that way in school, the safest place, supposedly?" Sanchez said.