From left, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, Maryland Planned Parenthood President Karen Nelson, Illinois Planned Parenthood President Jennifer Welch and Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson at a Chicago fundraiser Monday for an abortion-rights ballot initiative in Maryland. Photo by Josh Kurtz.
CHICAGO — Marylanders took their fight to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution to the Democratic National Convention Monday.
Lawmakers and advocates from the Free State held a Monday evening fundraiser with their counterparts from Illinois, co-hosted by Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon (D).
The event, at a catering hall in a gritty but emerging neighborhood west of downtown, was expected to raise about $70,000 for Freedom in Reproduction – Maryland Inc. (FIRM), the entity pushing the constitutional amendment that will appear on the general election ballot.
“This is about reproductive freedom, but it’s also about freedom overall,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said when he thought about hosting an event at the convention to boost the ballot initiative, he decided to call Harmon, whom he described as a mentor, figuring he’d get some advice on a suitable venue in the Windy City. Instead, he said, Harmon offered to co-sponsor the fundraiser.
“That’s what leadership looks like, when it doesn’t take a big push to get help,” Ferguson said.
Harmon became the Illinois Senate president in January 2020, the same time Ferguson took over in Annapolis. He said his state, like Maryland, has been scrambling to strengthen abortion protections since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022 returned the question of abortion rights to the states.
“If I had a dollar for every rational, sane person who said there was no way the Supreme Court would repeal Roe v. Wade, I’d have a quarter of the take” from Monday’s fundraiser, he said.
Illinois is contemplating an initiative to protect abortion rights. Harmon said passing the Maryland constitutional amendment is important because he believes the Supreme Court will come after contraception and other reproductive health services next.
“The Supreme Court is not done,” he said. “These bad guys are not done here.”
Also speaking at the fundraiser Monday were the leaders of Maryland Planned Parenthood, Karen Nelson, and Illinois Planned Parenthood, Jennifer Welch.
Welch said Illinois became a “refuge” for reproductive services for 10,000 women from 40 states since the Dobbs decision. She described how women who were under sedation in Wisconsin and about to receive abortions on the day the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision woke up only to discover they were unable to receive procedures that day.
“The good news is, we had planned for it,” Welch said. “A colleague of mine said I was a pessimist. But I knew it was going to happen after the former president [Donald Trump] put all those conservatives on the Supreme Court.”
Within a week, she said, Illinois Planned Parenthood opened clinics near the Wisconsin border and certified Wisconsin providers, so the women who were denied reproductive services in the Dairy State could cross the border. “Wisconsin patients, Wisconsin providers, Illinois address — that’s the difference.”
Welch said she’s proud of that effort, but also “pissed” — a sentiment echoed by Nelson, who said, “I love my job, but I go home every day and I’m angry.”
Maryland advocates believe the push for a constitutional amendment on abortion rights will receive enormous momentum from the Democratic convention, thanks to the visibility of Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, who is expected to have a prominent speaking role in the convention hall later this week.
“I think there’s going to be an incredible amount of attention on Angela and on this issue, and I think it’s going to help both campaigns,” said Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery), one of about a dozen Maryland lawmakers present at Monday’s event.
Ned Miller, who was Gov. Wes Moore’s campaign manager, has just taken a leadership role with FIRM, focusing on what he described Monday as “the nuts and bolts” of the campaign. House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D) plan to co-host another fundraiser for the group in the county next month.
Harmon tried to bridge the gap between the lawmakers from the two states by explaining how he and Ferguson both replaced long-term Senate presidents. But Harmon’s predecessor had served as Senate president for a dozen years, whereas Ferguson’s predecessor, the late Sen. Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D), was Senate leader for 33 years.
“For the Illinois people, it was all sort of Madiganesque,” Harmon said — referring to former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D), who resigned in scandal after holding the position for all but two years between 1983 and 2021.
Most Popular
Comments / 0