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Illinois Democrats say abortion-access protections are a promise: ‘You’re safe here’

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Illinois Democrats say abortion-access protections are a promise: ‘You’re safe here’


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Access to abortion is essentially locked down in Illinois. But Democrats are looking for ways to further protect the practice and its availability, including to outsiders who potentially face home-state penalties for seeking treatment here.

Legislation approved by both houses of the General Assembly include requiring Illinois insurers to cover abortion-inducing drugs, penalizing crisis pregnancy centers if they distribute inaccurate information and requiring colleges to offer reduced-price emergency contraception on campus.

Reaching beyond the borders is a high-tech House-approved measure that would require that interstate agreements over license-plate reading technology include a promise they not be used to track people traveling to Illinois for an abortion. It has its sights set on statutes such as the recent “abortion-trafficking” law signed in Idaho.

Lawmakers say they are not circling the wagons amid an increasingly hostile landscape since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the constitutional right to an abortion last year. Instead, they see a necessary reaction to other states’ overreach — or, as Rep. Kelly Cassidy has said, a response to Republican attacks on “people that they don’t think are equal to them.”

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“We’re saying, no matter what they do to you, you’re going to be safe here,” said Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat. “I’m not talking to the politicians doing this, I have nothing to say to them. I’m talking to the people that they’re victimizing. And I want to do everything in my power to make sure that we can keep them as safe as possible.”

Cassidy sponsored legislation, SB1344, that would require any company selling accident or health insurance in Illinois to provide coverage for abortifacients — drugs that interrupt pregnancies — hormonal therapy or immunodeficiency virus preventives.

Another measure, which abortion opponents promise will result in a lawsuit, would slap crisis pregnancy centers with deceptive practices — carrying a fine of as much as $50,000 — under the state’s consumer fraud law for circulating false information.

The centers, nonprofit and often faith-based, offer services such as ultrasounds, counseling clients and providing diapers and formula. There are about 100 such centers in Illinois. Nationally, they far outnumber abortion clinics, and their influence is growing.

Glen Ellyn Democratic Rep. Terra Costa Howard, who sponsored SB1909, has examples of literature from the centers positing “scientifically debunked” information that abortion is linked to breast cancer, for example.

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“We regulate how you can buy a car through deceptive practices or how somebody might sign up for a utility agency…,” Costa Howard said. “There’s nothing in this bill that limits the First Amendment. It’s not a forced-speech issue. You can’t lie and deceive people regarding health care.”

Ralph Rivera, legislative chairman for Illinois Right to Life, said such information hasn’t been debunked, but is based on studies that have reached differing conclusions than ones highlighted by abortion-rights advocates.

“They say it’s deceptive if we use our studies, that we can only use their studies,” Rivera said. “That’s not deception, that’s a difference of opinion on studies. We are not overstating the risk of abortion in causing cancer or infertility.”

Rivera said if enacted, a federal lawsuit will follow based on constitutional protections of speech and prohibiting laws that are vague.

The pregnancy centers have won in court before. A 2016 law requiring them to provide information on where clients could get an abortion was halted by a federal appeals court and still awaits trial court argument. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2018 that a similar law in California was unconstitutional.

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Democratic Rep. Barbara Hernandez of Chicago also won approval of a plan to require colleges statewide to provide emergency contraception, often referred to as Plan B, at a reduced cost in vending kiosks on their campuses. Republicans complained it forces higher education institutions to pay for a state requirement without state money, but Hernandez argued that they can set their own discount and that “this will help a lot of people.”

“They might live a couple miles away from a Walgreens or CVS. They might not have a car, and transportation might not be available to them,” Hernandez said. ‘That’s why it’s important to have the product where they are just in case of an emergency.”

Rep. Ann Williams, another Chicago Democrat, received House endorsement last week for requiring other states to pledge in interstate agreements not to use automatic license plate-reading technology to snare potential abortion patients leaving the state.

License plate readers photograph and bank license plates for law enforcement purposes. A plate number from a vehicle carrying a criminal suspect can be checked against the database to determine where it’s been or going. A maverick sheriff could use it to track someone headed to Illinois for an abortion, Williams said.

Williams’ legislation, sponsored in the Senate by Chicago Democratic Sen. Sara Feigenholz, was scheduled for a Senate committee hearing Wednesday. Sen. Celina Villanueva, a Chicago Democrat, led the other measures through the Senate. They await transfer to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, an ardent supporter of abortion rights.

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“When states around us are taking such extreme steps … we need to pull back. That’s not ideal. It’s not what the United States of America is supposed to be about. But that’s the place we’re in now…,” Williams said. “Are we are we making life a little more difficult? Probably. But it wasn’t us that wanted to strip (abortion) rights from over half the population.”

___

Follow Political Writer John O’Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor





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Illinois

Kasparas Jakucionis scores 21, lifts Illinois over Missouri in thriller

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Kasparas Jakucionis scores 21, lifts Illinois over Missouri in thriller



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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kasparas Jakucionis scored 21 points, including the go-ahead basket with 28 seconds left and Illinois defeated Missouri 80-77 on Sunday in the annual Braggin’ Rights game between the nonconference rivals.

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Illinois held the lead for nearly 30 minutes of game time, but a late rally by Missouri took the game down to the wire. An 11-0 run, capped by Trent Pierce’s layup gave the Tigers a 68-67 lead with about 4 minutes to go.

Jakucionis hit a straight-on 3-pointer for a 75-72 Illinois lead with 2 minutes remaining, but Missouri’s Tamar Bates hit a wide-open 3 in transition to tie it at 75 with 1:14 to go.

After the teams exchanged free throws, Jakucionis, a freshman who has six consecutive 20-point games, drove the right side of the line, stopped, pivoted and hit a turnaround jumper to put Illinois ahead 79-77 with 28 seconds left.

After a miss by Missouri, Kylan Boswell made one of two free throws for a three-point lead. Jacob Crews missed a 3-pointer that could have tied it for Missouri.

Boswell made 11 of 12 free throws and Jakucionis went 8 for 8 for Illinois, which was 22 of 23 from the line. Missouri made 28 free throws but shot only 76% from the line. There 43 total fouls in the game.

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Boswell had 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Illinois (8-3). Tre White scored 13 and Tomislav Ivisic had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Mark Mitchell and Tony Perkins scored 18 points each and Bates had 17 for Missouri (10-2), which saw its 10-game winning streak come to an end.

Illinois hosts Chicago State on Dec. 29 and Missouri hosts Alabama State on Dec. 30.

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Illinois Coach Brad Underwood Praises Mizzou After Braggin’ Rights Showdown

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Illinois Coach Brad Underwood Praises Mizzou After Braggin’ Rights Showdown


ST. LOUIS —  After each of the last three Braggin’ Rights games between the Missouri Tigers and the Illinois Fighting Illini have been decided by 20 or more points, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood believes gave fans “a pretty good show” Sunday.

The game was tied at 72, 75 and 77 in the final 2:30 of play before Illinois finally created separation with a successful jump shot from Kasparas Jakucionis with 28 seconds remaining to secure a 80-77 win for Illinois.

“We kept our foot on the shovel and we kept digging,” Missouri head coach Dennis Gates said of Missouri’s performance in the final minutes. “That’s the sign of a good team.”

Illinois has been ranked as high as 19th in the AP Poll this season before falling out of the rankings on Dec. 9. The Tigers received more votes than Illinois in the most recent AP Poll, with both just outside of the top 25. But Sunday showed why both Missouri and Illinois could continue to rise throughout the remainder of the season.

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“That’s two really good basketball teams,” Underwood said after the win for Illinois. “It makes this game another game that is great for college basketball.”

Being able to compete with a team as formidable as Illinois was not something the Tigers did often through the 2023-’24 season, going 0-18 in SEC play. But, Missouri is already starting to show signs of steering the ship back in the right direction. First with an upset win over Kansas on Dec. 8, and now with this performance against Illinois.

“Dennis does a fabulous job,” Underwood said. Coming off the year they had last year, is putting together a really good team.”

Sunday’s matchup was the 55th annual Braggin’ Rights showdown, host to a historic rivalry. Even with the loss, Missouri showed why they could reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2022-’23 season, Gates’ first year as the program’s head coach.

“When you get those two teams together, and you get them in the unique circumstances, you get a crowd like today, which, by the way, ours was fantastic,” Underwood said. “That’s an NCAA tournament team.”

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Mizzou Loses at Buzzer to Illinois in Braggin’ Rights Game



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What I'm looking at: Illinois

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What I'm looking at: Illinois


What I’m looking at: Illinois

We’ve reached the second rivalry game as the Tigers (10-1) take on the Illinois Fighting Illini (7-3) in the annual Braggin’ Rights matchup in St. Louis.

Here’s what I’ll be keeping an eye on at noon at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis (ESPN).

Scouting Report

Illinois enters the 55th edition of the rivalry matchup and 43rd in St. Louis coming off a last-second 66-64 loss to No. 1 Tennessee.

The Illini have played a very tough schedule to this point, losing to No. 8 Alabama, No. 1 Tennessee and Northwestern in the Dec. 6 opener of Big 10 play, as well as beating No. 19 Arkansas and No. 20 Wisconsin.

There’s exactly one player on Illinois’ team who appeared in last year’s Braggin’ Rights matchup, 6-foot-1, 185-pound sophomore guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, who played 3 minutes without a stat other than a missed shot in last year’s game and is averaging about 13.8 minutes per game, appearing in all 10 this season.

Otherwise, it’s a fully new Illini roster.

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Freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis (6-6, 205) has taken the lead for Illinois this year, scoring 16.1 points to go with 6.1 rebounds per contest and a team-high 5.6 assists per game. The do-it-all guard hits 42 percent of his attempts from 3 (21-of-50) and is tied for first on the team in makes from deep while being 10 attempts behind 6-9, 225-pound graduate forward Ben Humrichous, who has made 21-of-60 from deep.

Sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic (7-1, 255) who is from Croatia, is second on the team at 14.2 points per game to go with his near double-double average of 9.7 boards per contest. Freshman forward Will Riley (6-8, 195) adds 13.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while 6-2, 205-pound junior guard Kylan Boswell scores 10.1 points per game to go with 4.1 rebounds per contest.

All four have played in all 10 games, though Riley has come off the bench in all 10.

The Illini have used the same starting 5 in every game with Jakucionis, Ivisic, Boswell, junior guard Tre White (6-7, 210) and Humrichous.

The Illini score 84 points a game and give up 64.6.

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Illinois shoots 43.2 percent from the field, 32.4 percent from 3 and 73.5 percent from the free-throw line, while allowing opponents to shoot 36.9/23.9/61.5.

Illinois leads the all-time series 34-20 and holds a 26-16 advantage for matchups in St. Louis, including a 97-73 win last season. But the Illini hold just a 6-4 lead in the past 10 games.

Matchups

Mizzou’s perimeter defense vs. Jakucionis

The Tigers allow opponents to shoot just 33.2 percent from beyond the arc, which is surprisingly low considering the amount of open looks it feels like the Tigers give up every game.

Jakucionis comes in firing from deep. If Mizzou leaves him open, there’s going to be some major issues, especially if he hits a few early.

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The Tiger defense needs to stay locked on Kajucionis around the perimeter as much as possible. He’s definitely a major threat closer to the basket, too, but a few early, open 3s could give the Illini the momentum and the Tigers need to take it early and run with it like they did in the Border War.

Mizzou’s defense forcing turnovers

We’re sticking with the defense with the second matchup.

The Illini commit 11.2 turnovers a game and force only 10.4, so Illinois is running a deficit game-to-game.

For the Border War, I said one of the routes to a win was the Tiger defense forcing a lot of early turnovers and building a lead, then holding onto the momentum. That’s the same case here and the 2022 Braggin’ Rights matchup is the prime example to look at.

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If Mizzou is able to play in transition early and get some easy looks, that sets the Tigers up about as well as possible against a team they don’t necessarily match up well with.

Josh Gray vs. Tomislav Ivisic

This one is just interesting to me.

Watching two talented 7-footers battle it out in the post is always fun. I think Ivisic is the type of post player that’s going to go right at Gray more than Hunter Dickinson did, so another game where Gray makes a big, immediate difference in the post could go a long way to the Tigers getting their 11th consecutive win.

What I’m looking for

Has to be a quick start like we saw in the Border War.

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If the Tigers are going to win both of their rivalry games this year, they have the formula and showed they can do it.

They don’t need a 29-point night from Tamar Bates again, though that would be a good way to keep the offense moving, but there’s going to have to be a big offensive night from somebody.

Both teams like to play in transition, which is going to lead to some turnovers, if the Tigers are able to take advantage and force Illinois into some early ones that lead to easy buckets, that’s the best setup Mizzou can have for this game.

And once again, gotta try to keep away that offensive lull. It’s probably going to happen at some point, we see it just about every game. The Tigers pulled out the win against kansas because they built up a big enough lead to withstand a long lull.

That’s a lot to ask them to do again, so instead, how about we ask for a shorter lull. Maybe only five minutes instead of 13 where the offense looks awful.

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No lull at all would be fantastic, but feels like too big of an ask at this point until we see them go without one against a good team.

And just for my sake:

I already have one of my favorite coverage assignments I’ve gotten to experience in this year’s Border War. The 2022 version of Braggin’ Rights is another one that’s up there for me because it was my first time covering a game courtside and the way that game went, I could feel the energy from the Mizzou side of the arena all night.

I was sent up to the top of the arena for last year’s game and it definitely affected the experience, but I got confirmation Friday that I’m back on the floor this year, so hopefully the Tigers can give me a second of my favorite games I’ve ever covered in the same basketball season.

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