*Content warning: please be aware that there is a graphic image below regarding illegal abortion.

We must protect women’s rights and reproductive rights. Illinois anti-choice extremists want us to forget Gerri Santoro’s story, but we never will.

The anti-choice movement will stop at nothing to prevent all women under all circumstances from accessing safe and legal abortion care. From murdering doctors in cold blood, to assaulting women seeking abortion care, to a Texas law empowering bounty hunters to enforce fear and ruin lives, even of those who have been raped. A critical tool in their campaign is to re-write history, lying to their followers and repeated by their friends in the media, that women don’t suffer when there are restrictions and bans on reproductive healthcare. But we know the truth.

The tragedy of illegal abortion is everywhere – but Gerri Santoro’s story, and her lonesome death, remind us just how harmful inaccessible and illegal abortion really is. Devastatingly, Gerri died trying to terminate an unwanted and dangerous pregnancy, in the dark days before Roe v. Wade. These are the days that extremists in Illinois, and across the nation, are working day and night to bring back. Which is why we can never give up the fight to protect women’s rights. You can read more about her story here.

This Chicago Sun-Times article reminds us of what those very real risks are, right here in Illinois – and how easily we could return to them. Dr. Quentin Young, a Chicago physician, reflects on the grim details of his days at Cook County Hospital prior to Roe v. Wade. During this time, there was an entire ward dedicated to caring for women who were brought into the emergency room suffering and dying from an illegal abortion. From Dr. Young himself,

And then there was the third service: the so-called septic OB, a euphemism for women who had been damaged in self-induced or criminal abortions. Of course, all abortions were criminal then… They douched with bleach or peroxide. They used paintbrushes and cocktail stirrers and pencils and knitting needles. And yes, they did use wire coat hangers… Damage was often severe… The volume was so large I would do 20 D&Cs a day.

And then Leslie Reagan, author of When Abortion Was a Crime, explained to DNAInfo that,

Doctors and police [would] interrogate women in hospitals who come in from emergencies, interrogate them about who did the abortion, who was the source of the pregnancy and threaten them and ask them questions on their deathbed…

As we know, the anti-choice movement will continue to lie about women and their lives. This includes their refusal to accept that legal abortion is incredibly safe when done by a medical provider, and that millions of women have indeed suffered and continue to suffer from restrictions that only do one thing – threaten health and lives. But at Personal PAC, we are not going to let them get away with it – not now, not ever! We, with your help, will continue fighting to protect and expand reproductive rights. Illinois must be 100% pro-choice and must be here for all people who need reproductive healthcare.

We need your support so that we can ensure Illinois never ever goes back – women in our state, the Midwest, Texas, and beyond are counting on us.

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