Barb Wheeler Taking on Abortion, DUI, Jail Pot & Rape

Barb Wheeler

Barb Wheeler

State Rep. Barbara Wheeler skipped the Springfield Inauguration of statewide officials Monday to attend to family affairs.

That’s probably why she found time to answer my question as to what she had in mind for her second legislative session.

First on her list was the ultrasound bill.

This would require abortion clinic doctors to ask women about to get an abortion if they would like to see the ultrasound of the baby (although I am sure such docs would use the word “fetus.”)

A second Pro-Life bill would attempt to impose medical standards on abortion clinics.

There’s a 1989 Federal court decision harking back to the now-closed abortion clinic in Rockford that she will have to overcome. In that case, Dr. Richard Ragsdale sued the Department of Public Health over new regulations.

The Chicago Tribune ran this about the objections of abortion proponents:

“The regulations included specific instructions on operating room size, ventilation systems and other building requirements that abortion rights supporters said would make abortions more expensive and less accessible.”

The case was settled with no Pro-Life representative in the room.

Jim Thompson’s Director of the Department of Public Health Bernard Trunock, Attorney General Neil Hartigan and the ACLU, which brought the case, all supported few, if any, restrictions on abortion.

Needless to say, Pro-Life advocates were not pleased.

Since then, similar surgi-center requirements have passed court muster in other states, hence, the effort in Illinois.

Wheeler’s second area of interest is drunk drivers.

The source of that interest is, in and of itself, interesting.

It came from her 2014 Democratic Party opponent Joel Mains.

Based upon a tragedy in his family in which a drunk driver killed his step-daughter, Mains expressed surprise that five years later the driver had no restrictions on his driving.

For a year he was required to blow into a machine to prove he was not intoxicated before he could start his car.

The Crystal Lake legislator proposes that if on has a privileged with a provisional license, you have to have a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID) in one’s car for a minimum of five years. The minimum is now one year.

Wheeler proposes once one has had a drivers license revoked or suspended that would be no tolerance for driving while drunk or on drugs.

The other bill would prohibit community service being the sole penalty for anyone with a suspended or revoked license caught driving under the influence. there would be a no tolerance provision, which would include jail time.

And, speaking of drugs, with medical marijuana now legal, those who run jails and prisons are worried about what will happen if they refuse to allow an inmate not to have that drug.

Wheeler plans to introduce legislation that will provide immunity for refusal to provide marijuana while one is incarcerated.

Finally, Wheeler has discovered a lack of clarity with regard to how far back a prosecutor can go to charge a person with rape.

She notes that DNA records allow a look-back and identification of a perpetrator for as long as the records exist.

In a meeting she convened, three criminal experts could not agree whether there was a statute of limitations on rape.

With the law unclear, Wheeler plans to make it explicit that there is no statute of limitations for sexual assault if there is a police report with DNA included in the database.


Comments

Barb Wheeler Taking on Abortion, DUI, Jail Pot & Rape — 9 Comments

  1. A zero tolerance law and a five year requirement for a device in the car would be the strictest in the country.

    Such things as mouthwash, bread, and cough medicine could potentially put you at risk of jail time.

    How about tackling prevailing wage laws, shrinking the units of government, and pension reform?

    There’s a reason Rauner didn’t run on a socially conservative platform…

  2. Nomedicinal marijuana for people in jail that need it?

    I hope someone sets this bitch on fire and she burns alive.

  3. Not impressed with Ms. Wheeler’s sweeping political agenda.

    Would like to see a timetable on her progress on these issues, lest they die in deference to more popular projects, e.g. propping up MCCD to spend more of our taxes.

  4. What a whack job, bending over backwards for the MADD nutters.

    I have an idea, Barbie.

    Let’s ban alcohol in Illinois.

    It can be like footloose.

  5. No medical cannabis in jail.

    Last time I checked, 650 people in Illinois have been approved for medical cannabis- how many of those people is ‘Sharia Barb’ planning on imprisoning?

    She is aware that Illinois prisoners haven’t been able to smoke indoors since 2008, isn’t she?

    And, since a prescribed cannabis product would have to meet the requirement of any other prescription medication given to prisoners(she does know there are already regulations addressing that, doesn’t she?), how is a prescribed capsule of cannabis given to a prisoner by prison staff any different from a capsule of a prescribed painkiller given to a prisoner by prison staff?

    Answer?

    It isn’t.

    Ms. Wheeler is the Seinfeld Show made flesh- a legislator about nothing.

    Her views would have a supportive audience in this, the midpoint of the second decade of the 21st century- the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

    She’ll meet many people who share her same worldview there.

  6. Representation like this is why we’re in deep shit right now.

    Her agenda borders on insanity.

    Is this what she thinks we care about?

    It’s NOT!

    Why is it sooo hard to find qualified people?

    Well, for one you’d probably have to raise $100,000.

    Please new republican leadership find some real republicans to run against Wheeler and Althoff

  7. Tired of do-gooders.

    Try to organize your house and leave ours alone!

  8. Yeah, another thing I don’t understand is how somebody could say “get the government out of the doctor’s office, let it be between patients and doctors”, but then mandate what kind of conversations doctors have to have with patients.

    If a doctor wants to ask a patient if she’d like an ultrasound, they can already do that, but to mandate a doctor ask that seems incredibly goofy and intrusive.

  9. Wheeler is trying to distance herself from her stupid vote to raise our taxes via MCCD.

    She needs to stop taking her marching orders from the very old and obsolete guard of Jack schaeffer, Al Jourdan & their minions like Tryon & Althoff and local 150.

    We have your number, Barb.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *