Peoria Standard

State Sen. Sally Turner (R-Lincoln) is asking 44th District residents to spread the love this Valentine’s Day season.

“Please help me bring some joy to seniors living in assisted living centers, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities throughout the 44th district,” Turner recently posted on Facebook. “You can drop off or mail cards, poems, and other well-wishes to my district office.”

Turner has also been busy reminding her constituents that rental assistance through the Illinois Rental Payment Program (ILRPP) is readily available.

“The Illinois Housing Development Authority is now accepting applications for rental assistance through the Illinois Rental Payment Program,” she said. “Both renters and landlords could qualify for up to $25,000 in assistance.”     

On its website, IDHS states the focus of the program is “to ensure that families can maintain their housing while also making sure that landlords are also financially able to allow people to remain in their homes and also prevent a tidal wave of evictions amid the pandemic.”

Turner also recently took a stand against the repeal of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act (PNA), which removed the stipulation that parents be notified any time their minor daughter was seeking an abortion.

“By repealing this act we're going to make it easier for sexual predators and sex traffickers to abuse our children,” Turner said at an Oct. 19 press conference. “Sex trafficking experts have already noted that traffickers seek out states with no parental involvement. They know that if their victim is a minor and they want to force them into an abortion they have to prove a parent was informed and if we vote to repeal this law we will help make the daughters of our state a target for them.”

Turner argues repealing the PNA constitutes an unwarranted attack on the rights of parents.

“Our state government has a history of telling minors and even young adults that they aren't prepared to make important decisions, yet we're trying to pass this legislation that makes it possible for a minor to make a very important health decision that could have both physical and mental consequences while parents are left in the dark.”

Turner dismisses arguments made by some supporting the repeal that it’s needed in light of legislation in Texas that bans most abortions after a cardiac activity in a fetus is detected, which typically comes at about six weeks following conception.

“Without notification, there will be children in our state that will needlessly continue to suffer because no one knows what's happening,” she said. “On behalf of parents in Illinois, I beg the majority party not to repeal the parental notice of abortion act.”