‘Attack on women’s rights’: Trump administration’s impact on women’s health examined at Joliet event

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton was in Joliet on Friday to host a panel discussion with the theme that the Trump administration is hazardous to women’s health.

Stratton, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Richard Durbin, serves a governor who occasionally compares Trump administration actions to those of Nazi Germany.

She made her own blistering remarks about the president at the event at the Will County Health Department building.

“The Trump administration has chosen to launch a wholesale attack on women’s rights,” Stratton told an audience that filled the conference room.

Panelists at the event organized by Stratton pointed to a number of issues ignited by Trump administration polices that could erode access to health care for women, particularly during pregnancy.

“It’s dire straits right now, and it’s going to crumble before it gets better,” said Melissa Simon, vice chair for research for the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Simon said she has lost federal grant funding for her research into women’s health.

“My research was called dangerous to the health of Americans,” Simon said.

Restrictions on research will have an impact on health care, said Cherita Ellens, president and CEO of Women Employed.

“Without the access to reliable and transparent data we lose our ability to track what’s happening,” Ellens said.

She said public perception of who gets Medicaid often does not recognize that most recipients have jobs.

“Sixty-four percent of adults on Medicaid already work either full time or part time.”

The remaining Medicaid recipients, Ellens said, include 10% who have a documented illness or disability, 7% who are “pursuing education” and 12% who “aren’t able to work because of care-giving responsibilities.”

“Women are still the primary caregivers,” Ellens said.

Changes in Medicaid include new work requirements that panelists said are likely to limit those who get the aid simply because of new paperwork.

Deputy Gov. Grace Hou said new Medicaid requirements are creating “bureaucratic barriers” that will keep people out of the program.

New requirements for Medicaid recipients threaten access to funding for baby deliveries, said Cheryl Picard, assistant director of family health services at the Will County Health Department.

Picard said Medicaid was the single largest payer for pregnancy services in 2023.

“Women need access to quality health care,” Picard said. “We must stand up for American women.”