McLean County organizations weigh-in on the future of reproductive rights

NORMAL, Ill. – The 1973 Supreme Court Case “Roe v. Wade” granted women the federal right to seek reproductive care as they see fit. On June 24, 2022, the case was overturned, leaving the responsibility of issuing accessibility to abortion care to each individual state.  

 Representatives from the McLean County Democrats, McLean County Republicans, and Illinois State University’s Registered Student Organization Students Ending Rape Culture expressed the official stances of their respective organizations, how they each fit into the broader McLean County area, and what it at stake for each of them.  

“Of course, we are for pro-life,” McLean County Republican Chairmen Dennis Grundler said. “As far as having a different president in the office, I don’t believe that will make a difference because it’s up to the states now.” 

Project 2025 is a document developed by The Heritage Foundation and written by prominent republican figures that functions as an “ideal agenda” for the next republican administration. On page 450 of the nearly 1,000-page document, it states that human life is sacred, begins at conception and must be protected. They also state that abortion and euthanasia are not healthcare. 

While President Trump has publicly disavowed the plan, authors of the document have been appointed for key roles in the coming Trump administration. Namely, Russell Vought, Tom Homan and Stephen Miller were selected by Trump and have been connected to Project 2025. This has led many news outlets to speculate the legitimacy of the new president’s words. 

Grundler also believes that Project 2025 will not come to fruition because of the president’s claim not to concede to its plan.  He is, however, skeptical of anti-trump rhetoric circling social media. 

“The Democrats fear monger all the time,” Grundler said. “They’re also telling you people everyone’s going to take away social security and everything else which they say every two to four years and that never happens. I’m not worried. I don’t think anything is going to change.” 

On the other hand, the McLean County Democrats are less convinced the next four years will be business as usual. 

“As Democrats, we are for women’s rights; we believe that healthcare is a right, and make no mistake of that,” McLean County Democrats Chair Patrick Cortesi said. “We believe that women should have control over their own healthcare, and that those decisions should be made by her and her doctor, not her and some congressman somewhere. Going into these next four years I think we’ll all be grateful to live in states like Illinois, but I do think there are going to be places around the country that aren’t as fortunate.” 

Similar to Grundler, Cortesi also expressed frustration with false information that defames his party. 

“I know there were republican candidates who were talking about abortions occurring at nine months or after birth,” Cortesi said. “There’s no such thing. That’s called murder.” 

What Cortesi is referring to is called infanticide, known as the murder of a child within the first year of its life. People who are found guilty of infanticide face charges similar to that of manslaughter.  

At the center of the various pieces of misinformation are two truths that are paramount to the respective organizations; the McLean County Republicans believe in the sanctity of life, and the McLean County Democrats believe in bodily autonomy. 

One thing that has fallen in the grey area of this issue are cases of rape and incest. SERC Co-presidents Gabby Taylor and Lauren Bounds explained why sexual assault should be a part of the conversation on reproductive care.  

“Reproductive care serves those who have survived,” Bounds said. “[It’s] a huge way survivors can take back their bodily autonomy after it’s been stripped from them, and allowing survivors to have that choice is a huge part of the healing process.” 

One of SERC’s biggest values is making survivors feel comfortable and empowered to share their stories if they choose to do so. Part of this is dismantling the narrative that survivors should not come forward because placing accusations on someone could ruin their life. 

President Trump has 18 allegations of sexual against him with rumors of more according to ABC News. 

“People wonder why survivors don’t come forward,” Taylor said. “Don’t tell me that sexual assault allegations ruin lives. I think that’s one of the hardest things about SERC now [because] we want to encourage victims to come forward, but it is so much harder now for people to want to come forward because there’s an abuser in power.”  

Following the results of the election, conservative content creator Nick Fuentes began spreading concerning ideas and messages on social media, which encouraged others to do the same.  

Taylor mentioned seeing a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) after election day, where a woman wrote, “I hope men realize women won’t want to have sex anymore,” and someone replied, “whether or not you want to does not matter.” 

Planned Parenthood Illinois is closing the Bloomington location as well as its locations in Ottawa, Decatur and Englewood.